


Under a Clouded Blue

by TheMidgetTitanSlayer



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Bromance that almost seems like yaoi but is not, Family, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2018-10-17 14:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 58,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10596114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMidgetTitanSlayer/pseuds/TheMidgetTitanSlayer
Summary: "My ambition in life? To conquer the world because destroying the mafia is so last season and I never got around with it the last time anyway…kufufu."In which Rokudo Mukuro is reborn into a parallel world and finds himself in the position of every other SI/OC. Did he mention Hibari Kyoya being his younger brother?To hell with what Sepira's spirit has to say about him making sure everyone –even bloody Byakuran– plays the role they did in his previous life. But if that dead woman promises those imported chocolate bonbons from Kawahira's store– "Sure. Why not?"Featuring the evil mastermind and guardian angel of the canon!character's fates (the hell?): Rokudo Mukuro/Hibari Kuroo.[Posted from fanfiction.net]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. Amano Akira does.

1\. Re- _fucking-_ born! 

Dying was a given. When Rokudo Mukuro breathed his last, he was so sure that Death himself would greet him. Arms wide open with a dramatic speech and all that shit. So when he found himself breathing again and his heart beating, he was confused. Only his confusion didn't last long and he realised soon enough what could have possibly happened.

Nope. He wasn't in Heaven nor was he in Hell.

He had just been –what most people believed to be impossible– "reborn".

The sensation of being birthed to was not at all a pleasant one. A feeling he was sure would stick to his memory for eternity. It was suffocating for a moment and in the next, he was barraged by sudden light that blinded him. The feeling of being unable to breathe hit him soon after. He cursed his infant lungs before the little body he was now trapped in gave in to its predicament and released a cry.

He cringed at the sound that had unwillingly escaped his lips.

Air. He was relieved to be able to breathe. Though familiar with the sensation of breathing, his infant form seemed to find this sensation as new and foreign. Speaking of sensation, the warmth that had cocooned him earlier was gone and he now felt cold. Much to his annoyance, he couldn't seem to control his cries as large hands wrapped him in soft cloth and shifted him.

He did not like the feeling of being helpless. It was something he immediately loathed.

"A healthy baby boy." A voice that sounded so distant declared as he found himself being lowered and placed into a new pair of arms.

He was pleased when his infant body gradually ceased its loud and shrill cries to soft sobs as it found comfort in the warmth this new person radiated. Somehow, he felt safe. And tired too; despite not doing anything much than crying since his entrance into his new life.

A yawn escaped his lips and his eyes slowly shut.

_Ugh. Infants._

 

* * *

 

He didn't know how much time had passed. All he ever did was cry, eat and sleep. His body seemed restricted to carrying out only those activities. But that wasn't what pissed him off. It was his vision. He couldn't see.

No, he wasn't blind. As far as he was aware, newborn infants were not capable of seeing clearly until a certain time in the first few months of their birth. So everything for him was a blur. But he could identify the woman who was now his "mother". She had a certain comforting aura about her and he didn't want to admit it but he found the songs she sang to him, soothing.

There was another presence he learned was his "father". The man did not exhibit his wife's comforting presence but all the same made him feel safe. Strong arms, a firm grip unlike his 'mother's' gentle one and the lingering scent of sandalwood; it was how he identified his 'father'.

Relying on people was something he detested. It made him feel indebted to them. He knew it couldn't be helped though. Afteral, he was just a mere _baby._

But that didn't mean he played nice just because he had a debt to repay to his "parents". No. Absolutely not. It would have been very un-Mukuro of him. So he enjoyed giving them sleepless nights whenever he could. Bursting into cries the moment his 'parents' –who would be so sure that he was asleep– retreated to their own beds was the very reason why they sported dark circles under their eyes before he got bored of it.

So much for being an adult.

 

* * *

 

His 'father' was a busy man, he deduced. Though he had no idea of the man's profession, he was pretty sure his area of work was anything but easy. He could tell from the faint stress lines that were starting to make an appearance on the man's smooth features and from the majority of the time he spent away from home.

His 'father' was handsome. The man had raven black hair, piercing gray eyes and sharp features that stood out.

He could swear that the man's features looked so familiar but his memories were so foggy, he could not pinpoint who the man looked like. But he knew there was someone from his past life that resembled him. He just couldn't figure out whom.

His 'mother' was, simply put it, beautiful. He had come across a lot of women in his past life, however, none could compare to this woman's beauty. But then again, he thought himself prejudiced in his opinions about her since she was just too nice to him; which was no surprise considering the fact that he was her son.

He guessed she wasn't entirely Japanese –which he was sure was their nationality since it was the language his parents conversed in– as her eyes were soft blue and she did not bear pure oriental features. Perhaps someone in her family line was a Caucasoid?

Her hair fell to her waist in cascades of midnight black and her skin was fair unlike her husband's paleness.

He could have been fooled into thinking they were vampires if he didn't know better.

This was his _new_ family; a term which sounded odd for him to use because he never really had a blood related family in his last life.

As he stared into his 'mother's' blue orbs, he couldn't help but wonder how life would turn out in this second chance he was so graciously granted.

 

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Don't own KHR. 
> 
> Warning: Grammar.

2\. From a parent's point of view.

 

Hibari Kuroo.

The firstborn son of Hibari Akihito and Hibari Izanami. He was like every other baby in all prospects when it came to personality. But he had something more that other infants did not possess in the very year of their birth: intelligence.

Hibari Akihito knew his son was intelligent from the moment the boy could sit up on his own. He had seen babies before and the way they tried to do the same. His son did not flail his arms and struggle at the attempt like them. No. The boy would grab on to something and pull himself to sit up. Or at other times, roll over to his back then, with minimum effort he would manage to bring himself up to a sitting position.

Kuroo formed a habit of reaching out to every object near him and grab it with his unsteady hands. Hibari Akihito once witnessed the boy slowly bring his little hand up to his face as though trying to observe it, only to end up slapping himself because he had no proper control over his baby muscles. The man was amused the whole time as he carried his wailing son and comforted him.

The boy soon began to express his feelings in mono-syllabic sounds when he was just seven months old. A different one each for when he was hungry, when he needed to get his diapers changed, when he wanted to sleep.

Then came the time when Kuroo mastered the ability to crawl.

And did he turn into a nightmare for the Hibari couple when he did. The boy would crawl everywhere and anywhere he could when he was given the chance. On his parent's bed, his crib, the tatami mat and he even tried to crawl away when his mother was giving him a bath. Note, _tried._

Somehow, Hibari Akihito just knew that his son was doing all this on purpose. Afteral, no infant bore that mischievous glint in their eyes like Kuroo did.

The boy picked up walking not too long after. At first he would cling on to standing objects for support and would manage to walk all by himself before his little legs would give away. The funny thing was Kuroo would bat away anyone who tried to even remotely assist him by throwing a fit at the unfortunate person. It became a usual routine that went on till he managed to walk all by himself. He was just nine months old then.

To Hibari Akihito, it seemed as though his little boy was "training" himself, as absurd as it seemed.

When the young Hibari turned ten months old, he uttered his first word. Much to the dismay of both his parents, he did not call out either of the term of endearment they had hoped for him to say —mother or father. Instead, his first word was his own name. His father declared there and then that he feared his son would grow up to become _egoistic_ and a _narcissist._ Hibari Kuroo then laughed in his peculiar manner as though in agreement.

Gradually, he became rather talkative even though his articulation of words was limited due to him being just an infant.

Hibari Izanami stated one day over dinner that she thought Kuroo would become a prodigy because he could already walk and talk considering the fact that he wasn't even a year old yet.

Her husband, however, immediately disagreed with her. He said that Kuroo would not become a prodigy in the future; because he was _already_ one.

* * *

 On his first birthday party, Hibari Kuroo won the hearts of all the guests that arrived that day.

And it only took him a shy smile and an _"a-wi-ga-toh"._ The female guests cooed and tried to get him to interact with their children while the male talked about how gifted the Hibaris' son was. Honestly, with how the boy managed to gain all attention and win the hearts of the guests by showing a side of himself that both his parents didn't know existed, Hibari Akihito had a nagging feeling that his son would become a fearful person in the future; a manipulator even.

Kuroo neatly sorted away the toys he received for his birthday and barely ever played with them let alone, touch. Well, with the exception of a pineapple plush toy he carried around with him everywhere he went, and also the strange assortment of a few animal plush toys arranged on his bed.

Hibari Akihito was left mildly disturbed one day when he stumbled upon his son who was laughing with so much glee. Curious to know what the boy was up to, he poked his head into the room only to find Kuroo cackling like a maniac as he stomped on his green crocodile plushie. The one gifted by his mother's cousin's husband's— well, to put it in short, a gift from a pretty distant relative. He wasn't too sure of his son's choice of words—which sounded something like _"Die Vuh-deh"_ being repeated over and over again— because when he strained to hear the words, his son paused, turned around and blinked innocently at him.

Kuroo then asked his father if there was anything wrong in the most adorable manner that melted the man's heart almost instantly.

And this of course, made the man forget about the scenario before him as well.

The boy was more attached to the picture books he had received for his first birthday. And that made Hibari Akihito know his boy would grow up to be a pure genius.

A habit the boy picked up was sitting on his father's lap as the man read the daily newspaper or books. It almost seemed as though Kuroo was reading but Hibari Akihito dismissed the thought. Afteral, he was just one and nobody taught the boy to read yet. It wasn't like he already knew how to read anyway. _Right?_

The little Hibari did not require a nanny or someone to watch over him. Kuroo proved to be an independent boy who was capable of carrying out all his tasks himself. Well, except for the activities which his little body prevented him from pulling off.

The funny thing was that the boy was so persistent on bathing himself. It was almost as though he was ashamed of making his mother bathe him. However, Izanami did not allow it, even though he threw his first and worst tantrum that day. She simply shut him up by saying that she was his mother and that she would do what she wanted, when she wanted and how she wanted to do it. There was no questioning her actions.

After that day, both the Hibari males saw her in a new light.

However, despite Kuroo's independence, Hibari Izanami still thought it was a necessity to have someone more to watch over him. Sure, the matriarch saw to her son's every need and pampered him more than what was necessary which made her husband complain at times that their boy would become spoilt. But she felt as though it was not enough.

So when she heard that her cousin had come to Japan, she immediately hired Alison DeLauro for the job of being Kuroo's baby-sitter.

Hibari Akihito still remembered the day the blonde woman arrived and the way his wife conversed with her in rapid French. But that wasn't why he could recollect that very day oh so clearly. Rather, it was because of the way Kuroo stared at the women as they conversed.

At first, the man thought his son was just curious on hearing the foreign language for the first time. But he realised that wasn't it at all.

The look in Kuroo's eyes seemed as though the boy understood every word they exchanged. And the boy seemed rather excited at that. Hibari Akihito grew uncomfortable with the fact that his little boy appeared to be scheming in his mind. But then again, the man brushed the thought off. He could have been mistaken and it must have simply been a trick of the light that made his son's eyes shine with glee.

Kuroo was just one year old afteral. Knowing a language he heard for the first time was a ridiculous assumption. And it would be absurd to think that the boy would learn a whole new language anyway.

By the end of the first half of that year, though, despite his struggle with pronunciation and articulation of his words, it became clear that Hibari Kuroo was now fluent in French. A feat which seemed impossible to Hibari Akihito and which left the boy's mother and aunt, delighted.

The man only truly believed his son could _actually_ speak French after witnessing the sixteenth conversation between the boy and his wife's cousin.

"Our Kuroo is so smart, isn't he?" Hibari Izanami beamed with pride as she turned to face her husband.

He nodded in response, surprise still colouring his features. "Yes he is…very smart indeed."

Even though Kuroo was his son and he should have not thought anything remotely negative of his dear boy, Hibari Akihito could not help it. From viewing his son as an intelligent infant to a prodigy and then to a genius, he now believed his son was _not_ "normal". He knew the boy was far from ordinary.

Other one year olds did not behave in the way Kuroo did. They did not pick up potty training far too quickly, learn foreign languages in a few months, walk before they actually could, be polite, independent, perfect the use of chopsticks with no one teaching him how to, try to read —no. And it wasn't just a coincidence at all.

Then there was that time when the boy seemed far too mature for his age.

It was the time when Hibari Akihito had mentioned their family name. He had wanted to get his son to introduce himself with their family name instead of just his first name. What he didn't understand was why Kuroo turned so fast to face him that his little head almost snapped. And all the man said was, "Your name is 'Hibari' Kuroo."

The boy had a look of pure horror as he asked his father to repeat what he had just said.

The man complied to his son's request with confusion. Did Kuroo not like the family name?

"Father, are we in Na-mwi-mo-wi?" Kuroo asked, carefully pronouncing the word with a serious look on his face.

Hibari Akihito raised an eyebrow at his son's peculiar question. "Of course not. This is Kyoto."

At his reply, the boy visibly relaxed and released a sigh before mumbling something along the lines of _"just another common surname"._ Then—

"Can I get a cho-kwo-late?" Kuroo grinned as though nothing had just taken place.

The man sighed as he gave in to his son's "puppy-eyes". "Okay. But just this once alright?"

"Thank 'ew!"

* * *

 Kuroo's second birthday party was one to remember.

It began with Alison forcing a grumpy Kuroo who had obviously woken up on the wrong side of the bed, into the bath. He screamed in protest the whole time even as she groomed him up to look presentable for the day. He was never a morning person and on days like this one, he became the brattiest child ever to exist with a terrible temper.

_"Jeune garçon."_

"What?" He snapped in reply.

"Your mother needs you in the parlour–"

_"Ne me touchez pas!"_

"–so that is where you will be heading to now."

"Unhand me wight now!"

"No detours, _jeune_   _garçon."_

"I know! Now let go of me woman!"

Alison huffed as she released her grip on her nephew. This was one of those days when no one could get him under control. And it just had to be the day he would be celebrating his second birthday. She hoped Kuroo would not end up doing something stupid.

"Straight– "

"–to the pah-lah. I know."

"There's a guest your parents want to introduce you to. A relative from your father's side so–"

"–be po-wite and nice-ssu. I know, I know."

The French woman rolled her eyes. "Okay, now that you _know_ so much, off you go. And happy birthday again, Kuroo."

He rolled his eyes too as he waved her off. _"Merci beaucoup, Tante."_

Despite his awful attitude on mornings like this, he was still the polite little boy everyone knew him to be. It was also one of the many reasons why Alison grew fondly attached to him.

Hibari Izanami beamed happily as her son stepped into the parlour. He had a smile on —the very same one which won hearts— that completely masked any signs of the tantrum he had thrown earlier in the morning. She briefly turned to the "guest" and was pleased to see them wear an impressed look at the way the boy carried himself in a disciplined manner.

"Kuroo, dear." Izanami redirected her attention to her son as she beckoned him close. "We would like you to meet a very special person to us."

The boy followed his mother's hand gesture, with his ever present smile—

"His name is Fon." Hibari Akihito took the pleasure of introducing his family member.

—only to have it disappear instantly as his eyes landed on the small figure of a very, _very_ familiar Chinese who was seated on the chair next to his father's.

Said _'guest'_ arched an eyebrow as he watched his cousin's son pale considerably at the sight of him. The interesting thing was, however, the way the boy's eyes flashed with recognition before it quickly disappeared, but not quickly enough for the Chinese to catch sight of. "Is there something wrong?"

"Kuroo dear?"

The boy's voice was barely above a whisper, as he muttered a colourful string of words to himself in a language his parents did not know he was well versed with, in the midst of the questions rising out of concern for his sudden change in behaviour.

Kuroo's smile was back on his face as the boy bowed and apologised for his behaviour. He sent an apologetic smile to the 'guest' as he excused himself hastily from the parlour saying something about forgetting to brush his teeth. His parents just stared at the empty spot where the boy had stood, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Hibari Akihito cleared his throat to break the awkward silence that befell upon them. "Well–"

_"Dio dannato!"_

The Hibari duo paused as they heard a very familiar voice yell out and a door bang shut soon after.

Izanami spared no time to feel embarrassed over her son's behaviour. Instead, her eyebrows furrowed as she ran the boy's choice of words through her head. "Since when could he speak Italian?"

Later that evening, Hibari Akihito had come across his little boy and cousin in a conversation which Kuroo clearly seemed to be enjoying. The same could not be said for the Chinese though—

"So…you stwill suck on ah pa-ci-fi-ah?"

"–this is not–"

"Buh that ish ah pa-ci-fi-ah. And they are for babwies. Does that mean you ah a baby? But aren't you owlder then me? I don't use pa-ci-fi-ahs."

"…"

"Wha happ'nd? Why you no talking?"

"…"

"Lost your calm? Is that why yuh bweathing so hea-ve-wy?"

"…"

"You know…you kinda sound like a puh-vaht."

—because it was an obvious fact that the boy's supposedly "innocent talk" had gotten to the ever calm Storm Arcobaleno. How his son managed it, he didn't know. He shook his head with a deep sigh before joining in the conversation to rescue the poor Chinese who had never looked so grateful in his life.

The Hibari snorted inwardly. Fon had now probably changed his opinion on children being a calming presence because of their innocence after meeting Kuroo. He knew this because his son was a rather "frustrating presence" in his own unique way.

Just what was he going to do with the boy?

* * *

 Kuroo continued to be everything one would not imagine a child to be when he turned three. But there was nothing more memorable to his parents —his father in particular— than the time when he had turned four. The very year he started kindergarten, learned how to write flawlessly and read with no problem at all unlike his other age mates; also the year when he won his first gold medal —among the many more to cover up the shelf in the living room— for an interschool recitation championship, against primary school children mind you.

However, that wasn't all that Kuroo's fourth year of living brought forth.

The highlight of that very year went to the birth of his baby brother who went by the name Hibari Kyoya.

And never did Hibari Akihito see someone hate with so much passion like how the boy did towards the newest addition to the family.

Somehow —yet again— the man knew this was more than _just_ "sibling rivalry".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos!
> 
> Translations (with the help of Google Translate):
> 
> Jeune garçon(French): Young boy.
> 
> Ne me touchez pas (French): Don't touch me.
> 
> Merci beaucoup (French): A much politer way to say "thank you".
> 
> Tante (French): Aunt.
> 
> Dio dannato (Italian): God dammit.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. The birth of misery.

 

Baby Kyoya was greeted with a howl.

An ear piercing one which startled him awake from his slumber.

Hibari Izanami whisked her youngest into the master bedroom while whispering soothing words to calm the crying infant; leaving her husband to deal with a still howling Kuroo as she was tired and didn't seem to have the strength to comfort both their children.

Hibari Akihito gave a deep sigh as he bent down to his son's level and took the boy by the shoulders. The man understood his son's reluctance to accompany his parents to the hospital the other day. He was also aware of the fact that it had to do with what was usually termed as "jealousy". And he had been told it was nothing to worry about.

"Now Kuroo…" Hibari Akihito began.

"Father!" The boy sniffed as he wrapped his arms around the man and buried his face on his father's chest.

The man patted the boy's head with a small smile. "Don't cry…there's no reason for you to."

"B-But!"

"Hush now. It's alright. Just because Kyoya is here does not mean that we will stop loving you." The man said and it took him a lot of effort just to say it too as he was not one who would use such…words.

He noticed his son's hesitation. "Is there something else you wanted to say?"

"There's…there's a…"

"Yes?"

Kuroo looked up and met his father's eyes with tears and the most pitiful face he could manage. "There's an orphanage in Alaska with great facilities for children and the matron there cares for every single orphan like her own child. Their contact number is 824-623-2618–"

Hibari Akihito's smile dissolved into a deadpan stare.

"–and Kyoya will grow up to be a wonderful boy only IF you ship him off to _Sunflower's Home for Children."_

"Kuroo."

"Yes father?" The boy batted his eyelashes with a rather hopeful look.

"I will not ask you where you attained such information but I want you to never speak of it again nor mention even a word of it to your mother." The man simply told him in a calm tone. "Have I been understood?"

Hibari Kuroo's hopeful face fell and big fat tears began to roll down his cheeks before he ran off howling.

His father sighed and shook his head.

What was he seriously going to do with the boy?

Later that evening, Kuroo stepped out of the bathroom —where he had locked himself the whole time as a form of protest to the family's new addition's arrival— because he was convinced that if he went on with an empty stomach, he would die.

 

* * *

 

Mukuro —no. Kuroo.

His name was Kuroo now. Hibari Kuroo to be exact. His old self was dead and gone. He was no longer the Mist Guardian of the Vongola Decimo or one of the greatest illusionist's in the world but rather, a soul who just HAD to be reborn as the older brother of Hibari _fucking_ Kyoya. How the hell could this have even happened?

A parallel world of course.

He had been trying to avoid the fact of such a possibility ever since he had heard his family's name and even met the Arcobaleno Fon— who was apparently related to him by _blood._ But now that the Demon of Namimori "himself" had been born, such a thing was impossible.

True. He had reacted poorly and rather childishly for someone his age; as in his original age plus the four years ever since he had been reborn. Yes, he lived for a very long time and no. Why the hell would he disclose his age? And who ever said it was a crime living a childhood the way he wanted since his first one was robbed from him when he was turned into a "lab-rat" anyway?

Getting back to his current predicament—

"See?" His mother cooed. "Isn't Kyoya absolutely adorable? The two of you will get along just fine, won't you?"

Kuroo sniffed and turned his head the other way. The last thing he wanted was to be in the presence of Hibari Kyoya. He had skilfully avoided him for a whole week but…what Hibari Izanami wanted, she _always_ got. The woman was fierce and frightening. She had even gone to the extent of blackmailing him for this!

"Kuroo." Her sweet tone had a warning in it. "Your choco–"

"Yes! He's so cute and adorable!"

Hibari Akihito, who had been watching from the entrance of the room, raised an eyebrow at his son's three-sixty degree personality switch. While Alison DeLauro who was present in the room as well —in order to take the older of the siblings away and tuck him into bed after this interaction— failed miserably in hiding her grin.

Kuroo could feel his smile twitch as he gently —struggled to— stroked his "baby brother's" cheek with all the affection he could channel. "We'll definitely get along _just_ fine, mother."

His mother smiled in approval and ruffled his hair. "Alright, now you can take your leave."

The boy was so ready to sprint out of the room at a speed that would leave Olympic champions in shame when he suddenly felt a death grip on his arm, one that would have definitely left the strongest man in the world depressed and drawing circles in a corner. He turned his head back to face his mother with confusion etched on his delicate features.

"You forgot to give Kyoya a goodnight _kiss."_

Kuroo wore a deadpan look. _Oh fuck no!_

 

* * *

 

The first few months were bearable. Kuroo chose to stay as far as he could from his younger sibling and his parents didn't seem to mind his behaviour as they believed it to be a "passing phase" as said so by his tante. So they left him to his own devices, which was a good thing. At least.

Well, his mother did force upon him the habit of planting a "goodnight kiss" on his _dearest_ baby brother every night before he went off to bed.

Apart from that, he did all he could to steer clear from the baby demon's path for the whole day. He was ever so thankful for the existence of kindergarten where he did not even have to spare even the slightest thought about Hibari Kyoya— though he did mind the presence of the snotty little brats that surrounded him and were well, brats.

He wordlessly stared at the kid before him who was so engrossed with the task of digging out gold.

_Ugh._

"Kuroo-kun?"

His expression morphed into a shy one as he turned around to face the assistant teacher who had called for him. "Y-Yes, Miyo-sensei?"

The woman beamed at his response and he internally scoffed. What was it with the actions of children that melted the hearts of adults?

"Do you think you can help Miyo-sensei and your friends colour?"

"R-Really?" _Noooo. Pick another_   _soul who would actually want to colour fruits and butterflies over and over again, for fuck's sake._

She nodded and gestured for him to join the small group settled around the low-lying round table. "Yes. Your colouring is always so lovely. We would all like to have Kuroo-kun help us, won't we children?"

"Yes, Miyo-sensei!" The group of children chorused together.

Oh well, Kuroo sighed as he got to his feet and shuffled over to them. They had asked nicely so he found no problem in having to help some snot and drool dripping brats. At least they knew how to appreciate real talent and _true_ art. And not like it would hurt helping them anyway.

"NO!"

The Hibari internally groaned as he was roughly shoved to the floor. _Not this again._

"Sakaguchi Kentaro!" Miyo-sensei screeched in horror as the little boy responsible for Kuroo's fall took a seat on top of the raven head's chest with a fierce look in his clear amber eyes.

As far as Hibari Kuroo was aware, _this_ particular kid who had begun to pick on him since day one was nothing but a jealous little brat. Yes another one of those _brats._ Just that "this" one was not as ill-mannered as the rest but was a major _King of Jealousy_ whenever it came to someone complimenting the Hibari.

Well, you couldn't blame the kid, afteral Kuroo excelled in all fields and was very beautiful too. Both in the way he carried himself and in his overall appearance. He knew this because he stared at his own reflection in the mirror for a good long five minutes every single day before heading out to kindergarten. And no, he wasn't being prejudiced or partial since he was talking about _his_ features.

It was the plain truth.

He had raven black hair, an apparent trait of the Hibari, complete with the ivory skin tone and almost aristocratic features —which he was confident would become more prominent when he hit puberty. He could already envision himself as a _heartthrob_ of women, and men as well, when that happened. And he couldn't seem to thank his parents enough for the good genes they had passed on to him because it would serve him well in future when he would —okay, he'd stop there for now.

But that wasn't all; in the aspects of what made him beautiful, that is. His good looks would not have been complete without his eyes. Of course, every person had eyes but here, he meant the colour of his orbs, the mesmerising shade that always automatically made him stand out from amongst his peer group.

He inherited both the colours of his parents' eyes. No, he was not a heterochromatic like in his previous life. He just meant that the even though the two colours —grey and soft blue— blended together, they were pretty much distinct at the same time. It was hard to explain unless you saw it yourself. And most people found it hard to express it even then.

Oh right, his _tante_ Alison had said that his eyes were like a bright blue canvas on which a painter had splattered a hue of stormy-grey with his paintbrush. However, it was too poetic for Kuroo's tastes and so whenever someone asked him what the exact colour of his eyes were, he would merely tell them that they were a stormy greyish-blue. It was a simple description which was easy to grasp.

Skipping the whole talk of his _God-gifted-natural-beauty_ (with his most sincere thanks to his parents), Kuroo greeted the boy with tousled wavy dark hair who had his arms crossed over his chest and wore an expression of superiority. "Kentaro."

"That's Sakaguchi-sama to you!"

Kuroo rolled his eyes. What was it with kids these days?

The brat made a face when his "rival" who he had turned into his seat, chose to ignore him. "You–"

He never got to complete his sentence because he was immediately swooped off Kuroo by a pair of adult hands belonging to his sensei. And from the look she wore on her face, he knew he was going to get a long and stern scolding. His frown deepened when he saw his _greatest_ rival's smirk which was clearly directed at him, dissolve into an innocent mask as their classmates flocked around him with concern.

Kentaro couldn't seem to understand why he was the _only_ one who saw the other's "true side". If anything, Hibari Kuroo was the personification of _pure evil._

 

* * *

 

Ghosts _did_ exist.

Them and all things supernatural and unworldly. It was as plain as the fact that the sun rises in the east. Whether one could see, feel and experience or not didn't matter. Even the Vongola Primo's generation had managed to appear two hundred years later through the Vongola rings in the form of those somewhat translucent spectres people feared. Yuni had said it was through their will, an essence of them left behind _—or something of that shit—_ which made it all possible and argued that they were not ghosts, but Kuroo believed otherwise.

They very much had their own presence of mind and remember Daemon Spade? The Vongola Primo's Mist and the bastard who stole his body once? Yeah. That freak _was_ one-hundred percent "ghost". Thus, that very man (who had no sense of privacy whatsoever)justified his whole view that it was the Vongola first generation's ghosts they had met; and that ghosts very much existed.

So when the woman called Sepira appeared, he wasn't surprised.

Okay _fine,_ he did spray out the water he had been rinsing his mouth with when she did but hey! That was because she _fucking_ suddenly popped up behind him and waved with a smile on her face when he caught sight of her in the reflection of the bathroom mirror! He ended up avoiding mirrors for a good long week after that. And he blamed his unsteady child form's emotions for it.

Yes. Apparently, his emotions were controlled by his body's age and he had little reign over them.

Oh hell. He didn't want to know the emotions he'd get hit with during "puberty".

"Rokudo Mukuro." The woman greeted him with a warm smile. _(Wait._ _How could ghosts manage to_ do _that? Weren't they supposed to be cold and dead?)._ "Or should I call you Hibari Kuroo?"

"The latter." Kuroo replied as he wiped his mouth and hands with the soft towel before turning to face her with a suspicious expression. "Who are you?"

"Sepira." She curtseyed. "At your service."

The name did not come off as a new one to him. He'd heard it before, way back in his first life. Who was she again? Ah, right. The Giglio Nero Primo and also, if he was not mistaken, a member of an ancient species that saw to the balance of the Tri-ni-set —that was before the Arcobaleno and the Vongola and Mare rings came into the picture, of course.

She had a striking resemblance to the boss of the Giglio Nero, Yuni, of his time. Complete with the huge hat and the emblem of the famiglia below her eye and the way she wore her hair. Even down to the clothes, though Sepira's was a dress that fell right below her ghostly knees.

"What are you still doing in this realm?" He cocked his head to the side as he posed his question.

Sepira's laughter was a melodious sound. "And why should I not be?"

"You're _dead."_ Kuroo deadpanned.

She didn't even flinch or wince at his blunt response. Instead, she wore a fond look that irked him. "And so _were_ you."

He narrowed his eyes. So she _did_ know. But how?

"Ever wondered who brought you here and why?"

Kuroo blinked. "So you mean to say that the process of being reborn is not a usual thing for all who die?"

"If that were the case and everyone who died were reborn the way _you_ were, the world you live in now would be devoid of new souls going through the thrills of experiencing life for the first time." Her eyes twinkled. "They would be far too intelligent for their own good. And mind you, blind intelligence pays severely."

He paused in thought.

"Well then, are you trying to imply that you are the very reason I was so graciously granted this second life in a parallel world of the one I lived in before?"

Her laughter graced his ears again.

"I suppose that's a no." Kuroo huffed; the woman's laugh was surely getting on to his nerves.

"Someone else did." Her eyes twinkled with mischief. "I am merely here to act as a guide for you."

"Guide?"

"Well, a guide of some sorts." She shrugged as she floated towards him.

Floated. Wait. _Floated!?_ Oh— she didn't have any feet. It was a rather disturbing observation made by Kuroo.

He instinctively took a step back when she did. His back hitting against the sink as he shot her a wary look. Not his fault that his almost five year old form did not seem to like the idea of a ghost getting close to him. Kuroo could bet on the fact that his childish mind would be the cause of a case of nightmares tonight.

"And why would I require a guide…of some sorts?" He added the last bit after a short pause.

Sepira just smiled in response.

 

* * *

 

"NOOOOOO!"

The awful blood-curdling scream had both parents rush over towards the source of voice which unmistakably belonged to their first son since little Kyoya was not capable of performing such a feat at just seven months old.

Hibari Izanami, however, just paused by the door and could not seem to help but smile at the scene before her, her husband doing the same as he took a position beside her.

Kuroo had just returned home after a rather tiring day that involved his "self-proclaimed" rival. That kid seriously needed a therapy or a jealousy-management session, if something like that even existed. Hell, Kuroo was so tempted to summon his trident and spear the boy but oh well; he was never one who liked violence or chaos. And using his power on a _brat_ like Sakaguchi Kentaro would be a total waste.

(Yes he was still a Mist flame user and the ever so talented illusionist he was before, much to his relief. The very discovery was a long tale which involved a dog, a tree and the koi pond in the back garden.)

Kuroo was supposed to take a long nap. It was his original plan since he was dead tired and needed rest. But _someone_ just had to ruin it all.

He was greeted by the sight of Hibari Kyoya chomping on his precious pineapple plushie, soaking it entirely with his drool. And _that_ was a very legit reason to scream like the world was ending. It was a murder scene he had walked into afteral. Who the _fuck_ allowed the kid into his room in the first place!?

What had ensued by the time his parents arrived was a vicious tug of war between the two siblings with Kyoya's mouth firmly and stubbornly latched onto the plushie, and Kuroo doing his best to wrench out his prized possession from the demon's jaws.

"Let go!" The older of the siblings howled in an almost animalistic manner. "This. Is. My. Precious!"

Kyoya, however, did not look like he was going to obey the order any sooner. Just how the  hell did the demon spawn have such strength!? Kuroo was supposed to be four and several months older than him for crying out loud!

"Treat him gently." A certain ghost advised as she popped up and watched the two with concern. "He's still a baby-"

Kuroo rolled his eyes and chose to ignore her mere presence.

The toddler released his iron jaw-grip on his older brother's possession at that same moment, happily gurgling and pointing at the spot behind Kuroo, the doorway where their parents were watching from.

The ex-Mist guardian of the Vongola had clearly not seen this coming and hence, landed on his bottom without the elegance he carried about. He groaned before getting to his feet, ready to attack his younger brother but stopped when he realised his parents were just there. He huffed and stared at his favourite plushie with disdain as his mother scooped up the happy toddler into her arms.

"Well," his mother never seemed as glad as she was right now. "You adorable little two clearly seem to get along just fine."

He rolled his eyes at her comment and bit back a rude remark. He wouldn't risk losing the chocolate stash in the bottom of his wardrobe afteral. What Kuroo didn't know was that those very words his mother had just spoken would be the very ticket to his doom in the coming days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos, the bookmark and for reading ^^


	4. Chapter 4

4\. Damn that catchphrase.

 

"What…" Kuroo had an impassive look as he stared at the paper in his hands. "…is this?"

He had woken up to a _tiny_ pair of hands slapping him as though his "God-gifted-natural-beauty" of a face was a _fucking_  drum. And he did NOT appreciate it. At all. He groaned and sat up only to have his drowsiness clear off instantly when his eyes met with grey ones that he knew would turn harsh and cold in the future.

Baby Kyoya who had a pacifier stuck in his mouth held a paper up to his face for him to see.

 _'Kuroo,_ _I_ _know you are very mature despite being just five years old and_   _I a_ _m proud of you for that. Hence,_   _I_   _leave your little brother in your care while_   _I sho_ _p with your_   _aunt. Ask the maids for help_   _if you require anything. Take good care of him, alright?_ ~ _Love, your mother.'_

"She did not." He hissed as his eyes ran through the note a couple of times more.

When he realised that no the paper was not going to vanish and no, he wouldn't wake up from this terrible nightmare since it was pretty much reality, he turned to face his charge who blinked almost innocently at him. _Almost._

The older of the two pressed his forefinger against Baby Kyoya's forehead and pushed the recently turned one year old away from him. Well, he tried to but apparently his demon of a brother had the strength of a demon too 'cause he just won't _fucking_ budge.

Baby Kyoya's eyes narrowed. It was a warning sign which Kuroo didn't bother taking it seriously and that was a fatal mistake.

"Argh! Get off me you lil f—"

"Language!"

The two siblings paused and turned to the newest member who had just entered the room.

"He is just a child so mind your language around him, Kuroo." Sepira scolded as she drifted in with a look of disappointment clearly sketched out on her ghostly face. "Honestly, what would you do if he picked up all those words from you?"

"Why do you care?" Kuroo huffed as he shoved his brother off his chest and got out of the bed before the little monster could do anything more.

Baby Kyoya, however, seemed to have long forgotten about his brother and was instead, curiously staring at the ghost who cheerfully waved at him. The infant owlishly blinked before he responded with a hesitant wave. Almost immediately, Sepira swept down to him and patted her cheeks with her hands —which according to Kuroo was pretty silly of her to do since her hands passed right through the kid's face and that was a pretty disturbing sight— as she cooed.

Kuroo paused. "…wait. Why can he see you? I thought no one apart from me can see you unless you will them to."

"Well…" She began to explain as she settled behind the infant and wrapped her arms around him. "Children are different, you see. They can perceive and see things more clearly, something like an ability which they eventually lose when they grow up. Anything supernatural does not go as unseen by them."

The raven head gave a non-committal hum in response as he shuffled over to the bathroom. Today was the beginning of the summer holidays which meant that he won't have to attend kindergarten. It was a good thing since he didn't seem to have the energy to act all nice around a certain brat these days. He would have snapped if that very brat became unbearable. _Should_ I _just murder him?_

It wasn't like Sakaguchi Kentaro had existed in his world or even played a minor role in shaping it. In fact, Kuroo would be doing the universe a favour by getting rid of the brat now. And it wasn't as though anyone would even miss the spoiled son of the CEO of some big-deal company —whose name he didn't bother to remember because they didn't manufacture chocolate.

_(What? Chocolate IS life!)_

But then again, it would be troublesome dealing with the aftermath if that happened.

He sighed. The summer might have, would have, and _could_ have been an enjoyable one since the Sakaguchi brat would be out of his nose for a good long month and half…but no.

Hibari Kyoya just had to come along and spoil the fun.

Kuroo rinsed off his mouth and placed his toothbrush away. He stared at his reflection with another sigh. His raven black hair was all in a mess but damn did he still look so good. A laugh escaped his lips as he continued to stare at his bewitching appearance. Oh, the advantage he would take of it to make people grovel at his feet. _Ah…and won't_   _that be just so wonderful._

"Kuroo! Your brother is going all _'ninja'_ and if you don't come here right this instance he might topple off the bed and get hurt and— ack!" Sepira's panicked voice ruined his moment. "No little one, you should not—"

The boy rolled his eyes as he headed out of the bathroom. He could only hope that this would be the first and last time he would be made to watch over the baby demon, despite what his intuition was saying.

_Think chocolates, just think chocolates._

 

* * *

 

 "What?" Kuroo snapped.

The one year old before him was clearly not impressed with his response because he scowled before making another attempt of grabbing the bowl of snacks from his older brother's hands. When the bowl went out of his reach one more time, the child took to stubbornly sitting himself next to his brother on the bed.

"These are not meant for you, you insufferable brat." Kuroo rolled his eyes as he shoved some more potato chips into his mouth right infront of Kyoya's face on purpose. His eyes glinted with delight when his younger brother stared at him longingly and audibly swallowed his saliva. "Only I can eat it."

Baby Kyoya sniffed and scrunched his nose. "Kwuwo."

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean Kyoya."

"Kwuwo!"

"Oh? My name you say?" The older of the two scoffed. "Nope. That's not how you say it."

THWACK!

"Ouch! You little—"

"Kuroo, stop being so sadistic and feed your brother some of those potato slices." A familiar voice sighed.

"'Potato chips', Sepira." Kuroo rolled his eyes. "They're called potato chips."

The ghost cocked her head to the side as she stared at the food item in the bowl. "Do they really taste so good?"

"I don't know. Why don't you try and tell me—" He paused and faked a gasp. "—oh, I'm sorry. You're _dead_ and a _ghost_ AND you _can't_ eat! Pardon my mistake, I forget some times." The boy grinned, stuffing more of the chips into his mouth and loudly crunching on them before putting on a show of licking his fingers. "But…they do taste very pleasing to the taste buds. Absolutely lovely, the flavour just melts in your mouth."

Sepira frowned and wore her favourite look of disapproval as she hovered over to the two siblings.

Baby Kyoya perked up at the sight of her and pointed at the bowl his brother's possession. "Me want!"

The woman sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kyo-kun. I can't get it for you and I doubt I can convince your brother to part with it either."

"No?" The demon's eyes widened in dismay and Kuroo snorted.

"Sorry." She shook her head again.

"You heard her." The stormy bluish-grey eyed boy smirked. "You won't be able to eat this so shoo! Go away! Go back to _tante_ and tell her I do not want to watch over you _again_ even if it's just for an hour."

"He can't speak full sentences yet Kuroo." Sepira arched an eyebrow in amusement. "You can't believe he will be able to convey that message to your aunt now, do you?"

"I'm contended as long as he stays far away from me and does not— I said you're not getting any so stop trying to reach for the bowl!"

"Kwuwo!"

The woman simply looked towards the sky in exasperation as though wanting to know why her of all the billions and billions of dead people. She exhaled and turned to the two siblings who were busy bickering over the bowl of potato slic— _chips. It's potato chips. Not slices, Sepira. Chips._

"Just feed him a piece or two." She finally said. "Then he would not pester you any further, Kuroo."

The two stopped and stared at her.

"Well…that is a good idea…" Kuroo nodded to himself before turning to his brother. "Okay, you get just one piece, you got me?"

Baby Kyoya eagerly nodded. "One pwiece." 

"Nah-uh." Kuroo shook his head. "You're forgetting the magical word, Kyoya!" 

"Puh…puh-wease?"

"Exactly. Alright, here you go." 

Sepira smiled as she watched the one she was supposed to guide hold a chip out to his younger brother and fondly thought of how adorable the two of them were— before the stormy bluish-eyed boy grinned and decided to destroy the whole "sweet" scenario by quickly devouring the piece of potato chip himself.

Kuroo stuck his tongue out to the little demon and burst into an evil chuckle. "Kufufu…did you really think I would have fed you?"

Normally, children in Baby Kyoya's position would have dissolved into tears but that was not the case for the future Demon of Namimori for he was, well, not your average child.

 CHOMP! 

It only took a moment for Kuroo and Sepira to register what had just happened.

"Argh!"

"Kyo-kun! Kuroo!" 

"Mmm-ff-mm!" 

"Get him off me!" The ex-Mist guardian of the Vongola screamed as he tried to wrench out his hand from Baby Kyoya's mouth. Yes, the insufferable brat had just _bitten_ him! "He's eating me! He's _fucking_ eating me ALIVE! CANNIBAL—"

"Now, now—" 

"—Vaffanculo!—"

"—Kyo-kun! Don't harm your brother—"

"—god-damned mother _fucking_ release me this instant! Or I fucking swear I will—" 

"—language Kuroo! He's just—"

"What is going on in here!?" A new voice interrupted the chaos. 

Sepira immediately disappeared, probably due to being startled which wasn't really necessary since the newcomer couldn't see her. But who could blame her? She did feel quite real at times.

However, Kuroo was still stuck howling in pain and letting loose a string of colourful words in multiple languages while Baby Kyoya was busy being preoccupied in being the source of his older brother's suffering, of course. 

"Kyoya!" Hibari Izanami exclaimed as she gently managed to pry her youngest away from Kuroo. "That's not a very nice thing to do."

"Oh _merda."_ The older of the two siblings cursed as he stared in shock at the puncture marks on his hands which were now beginning to bleed, courtesy of a little demon who barely even had any teeth to begin with for _fuck's_ sake!

"He bit me. He _fuck—"_  

 _"Jeune garçon."_ His _tante's_ voice interrupted him as she firmly took him by the wrist and inspected his wound. She was unfazed by his choice of words since he used them much too often around her and never seemed to bother to listen to her scoldings about it, unless of course it was accompanied with a bribe of chocolate. "Watch your language."

"Mother!" Kuroo snapped out of his momentary trance and turned to his mother, pulling away from his tante in the process and thrusting his injured hand out for her to see. "Look at _this!_ I need to go to the hospital!" 

Izanami arched an eyebrow as she shifted Kyoya in her arms so that he was comfortably resting on her hip. "Hospital?"

"Yes! He bit me! Oh my god, I need an anti-rabies shot or…or—"

"Kuroo, you should calm down." His mother shook her head. "You don't need any—"

"He bit me! I could die once I'm infected!" He cried out in anguish as he waved his hand infront of her. "See!? He could pass off as a dog and no one would—" 

 _"Jeune garçon!"_ The French woman snapped as she placed a firm hand on her nephew's shoulder. "You will talk to your mother with proper respect and your brother is no dog!"

"He tried to bite me to death!" 

Suddenly, his older brother's rants were turned a deaf ear to by Baby Kyoya who blinked as he ran his brother's choice of words through his mind. He couldn't understand it but by somehow, he liked the sound of the words. It just felt so perfect to his ears!

 And he knew, right there and then, that those words were just meant for him and him only. 

The occupants of the room abruptly hushed up when the youngest of them pointed a finger at his older brother. They wore curious looks as they wondered what the little raven head was up to. Surely, they were not aware and least expected that what they were to witness was an event that would forever change their lives, Kuroo's particularly— 

"Bwite you to de-f-th."

(Hibari Kuroo's eyes comically widened as he had sudden flashbacks of memories from his past which showed a certain raven head in all his glory and tonfas, a promise of pain glinting in his steel gray eyes as his lips parted and his tongue lolled out his all-time _favourite_ "catchphrase".) 

—and that today was the day history would be made. 

There was a momentary pause and then, 

"Oh _fuck_ no!" 

"That's it! You are not going to eat anything remotely chocolate for the rest of your vacation!"

 

* * *

 

Alison DeLauro tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear with a sigh as she placed the last of the picture books back on the shelf.

The Hibari manor was quiet. Well, it was peaceful for the time being, considering the fact that little Kyoya was fast asleep since it was noon and Kuroo was currently in kindergarten since his classes had resumed today. She couldn't be more than grateful for it because she was growing tired of breaking the siblings apart whenever they got into their daily fights.

It was as though they couldn't live a day without getting into each other's nerves. Well, it was usually the older of the two who initiated every single brawl anyway. She rolled her eyes. _And they all call Kuroo "mature"._

The boy was extremely different from his age-group. He had funny habits a child wouldn't have and preferred to quietly read rather than play. Not to forget that he was a walking dictionary of inappropriate language whenever his mood went sour. She wondered just where the boy had learned such…words. She didn't teach them to him of course, could it be the television? One never could trust the media.

She had come to Japan five years ago in hopes of settling down in the country where her cousin lived. Izanami was the closest thing she had to a sister and she truly cared for the woman who despite being older than her by a couple of years, always treated her like a close friend. The woman was too kind and Hibari Akihito, her husband, was no less.

But Alison knew she wouldn't be able to continue living in Japan forever. She would have to move back to France one day. Her older brother, Sebastien, would marry his fiancée in the near future and when that happened, she would have to go back to their family château in order to look after their mother; and also perhaps her brother's child who would be conceived not too long after.

The woman sighed. Well, at least she already had her share of experience when it came to looking after children.

"DeLauro-san."

She turned around to face the maid who stood by the door. "Yes?"

"Tea is being served in the parlour. Izanami-sama awaits your presence."

"Tell her I'll be there soon."

 

* * *

 

"Are you alright, Kuroo-kun?" Miyo-sensei questioned as she stared at her student who had just ended his coughing fit. "Are you having a cold?"

The boy in question bit back his frown and managed to put on a smile. "No, sensei. I think it's my allergies acting up."

"You sneeze when allergies act up."

Sakaguchi Kentaro rolled his eyes as he pointed out the obvious the moment their sensei turned her back to them. "Just admit it. You caught a cold."

Ah, right. The "intelligent" little boy who always loved to butt into conversations he was clearly not involved in. Even the whole of summer didn't seem to have changed Kentaro. The kid needed to just go get a life and stop involving himself where he wasn't welcomed, and also _seriously_ consider shifting his seat too.

To some _god-forsaken_ corner obviously.

Like, why was he even sitting next to Kuroo if he proclaimed to hate him?

"Do you like me?" Kuroo suddenly turned to face the boy with clear amber eyes.

"W- Th- WHAT!?" Kentaro spluttered at his _nemesis's_ unexpected question.

"I asked you whether you liked me."

"Of course not! W-What makes you think I would like someone like you?" The brat sneered after quickly recovering from his initial shock.

The Hibari shrugged as he wore an indifferent look. "Well, you've been bothering me since the very first day of kindergarten. You can't seem to leave me alone and you like to _relentlessly_ pick on me, even though your attempts of bullying never really work of course."

"And what does that even have to do with your question!?"

"My _tante_ said that when someone has a crush on you or likes you, especially if they are kids, they do all they can to get your attention, even to the extent of getting violent and physical since they are unaware of how to woo the one they like." Kuroo drawled as a smirk tucked up on the corners of his lips. "And that is exactly what you're doing isn't it, Kentaro? So does that mean you like me?"

Well, Alison had never said anything as such but it was a legitimate and universal fact, _and_ also, he was growing tired of being _nice_ to this brat in particular. Maybe he should traumatise the kid a little to get him off his life?

"Of course not!" Kentaro exclaimed as he turned an interesting shade of red. "I would _never_ like you! And you're a boy on top of that!"

"What? Mommy been telling you all about prince and princesses, how they're only meant for each other and no one else?" The raven head smoothly asked as he leaned closer, clearly enjoying how the boy with clear amber eyes flinched at the sudden proximity. "You think boys can't like each other? Why? Can't imagine a prince and prince together, happily ever after?"

"W-Wha—"

"Don't play dumb, Kentaro." Kuroo sighed as he brought up a hand and lightly stroked the boy's cheek, smirk growing wider. "If it's a kiss you want, you can just ask me you know."

"YUCK!" The boy screeched. "Get away from me you freak!"

The illusionist could only laugh heartily as he watched the dark haired boy scramble out of his seat with his bag and stumble over to another bench. _"Arrivederci,_ Kentaro! Come back _never!"_

In the end, the boy avoided him for one whole month and was never seen sitting even a feet close to Kuroo for the rest of their schooling years.

Hibari Kuroo had to say, it was a performance of permanent-trauma well inflicted on the brat by him.

Well, who could blame Kuroo for being the genius he was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> And also for the bookmarks and the kudos, and for the comment as well! ^^


	5. Chapter 5

5\. Uncle.

 

"Wow, it's been about four years since I last saw you and you're still as short as your name is, _uncle."_

Fon sighed before giving a brief nod of acknowledgement at his nephew's appearance. "Good to see that you're doing well, Kuroo."

"Did you miss me, _uncle?"_ The raven head asked with a cheeky grin as he sauntered into the living room. His parents had summoned for him and though he had been watching a rather interesting episode of _Pokémon,_ he immediately left the television to meet his _favourite_ uncle.

(He clearly didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that the feeling was not mutual on Fon's part.) 

"I can't say I did." The Chinese replied before shifting his attention over to the figure trailing after Kuroo. A pleasant smile stretched across his lips as he eyed the younger of the siblings. "And this must be Hibari Kyoya." 

Kyoya politely greeted him with a bow. His curious glance lingered on Fon for a while before he turned over to his parents who were wearing pleased expressions. He eyed them questionably, because Kyoya was afteral, not much of a talker. 

"Kyoya." Hibari Akihito nodded. "We wanted you to meet your uncle, Fon." 

"I know he's really short and looks like a baby but trust me, Kyoya…" Kuroo said in a mock whisper as he turned to his younger brother with a hand over his mouth. "…he's still our _uncle."_  

"Kuroo, dear." Izanami's sweet tone had a warning to it.

"My apologies." The said boy gasped and then bowed with a sombre expression. "I sincerely did not mean for my words to wound you —or even be heard, in the first place—, _uncle._ I was just mentioning _facts._ You have my deepest regrets for my action of _apparent_ disrespect, judging from my mother's tone." Kuroo looked up and met Fon's eyes, a smirk slowly spreading on his lips. "Am I forgiven, _uncle_ dear?"

The Chinese exhaled after a rather long and deep breath. "It is alright, young one. Besides, I won't want to ruin the mood of this occasion of finally meeting your younger brother by not _forgiving_ you."

Kyoya watched cautiously as his so called "uncle" hopped off the chair with cat-like grace and approached him with a calm expression onto which a gentle smile was plastered upon. 

This _infant_  seemed so serene that the future Cloud Guardian of the Vongola Decimo couldn't help but lower his defences. Yes, _defences._ All because his older brother was now so fond of attacking him out of the blue ever since the day he bit him. It wasn't his fault anyway, Kuroo had been totally asking for it that one time. 

"Careful _uncle,_ he bites." 

And his older brother just seemed to love telling _everyone_ —up to the household staff, and the koi fish too— about it. 

"Kuroo, why not give your uncle and brother some time together?" Alison sighed as she entered the living room with a tray of tea and light snacks. "They're meeting for the first time, I'm pretty sure Fon-san would like to get to know your younger brother well." 

Kuroo frowned as he turned to his _tante._ "And what about me?" 

"He already knows enough not to get into a conversation with you." She shot him a challenging gaze, accompanied with an arched brow that seemed to ask if he was really serious in wanting to know why his uncle seemed more comfortable with talking to little Kyoya.

"That's mean, _tante."_

"It's the truth, _jeune garçon."_  

"Fine fine." Kuroo rolled his eyes and turned to head out of the room. "I'll be preoccupied with _Pokémon_ so if you —" The raven head was cut off with a series of coughs that racked his little body. He frowned and cleared his throat once the episode of another one of those _annoying_ coughs ended. "Like I was saying, I'll be watching _Pokémon_  so you know where to find me if you need me for anything. _Ciao."_  

"Is he taking his medication regularly?" Izanami directed her question over to her cousin since the boy left almost in a hurried manner, preventing anyone from commenting on his health.

"He is." Alison nodded with a frown. 

"Is he suffering from an illness?" was the question raised by the Storm Arcobaleno who had been silently watching the whole time with curiosity.

"We took him to the best doctors in and around Japan, but none of them could diagnose what he was suffering from." Hibari Akihito nodded. "All the test results turned up the same with the words that he is not suffering from any aliment at all. And he did not seem to favour the idea of going abroad saying it was an unnecessary act. He has been prescribed a medication for coughs though; we're taking precautions so that his health does not fail."

"Well, that is somewhat…strange." Fon mused over his cousin's words. 

Izanami sighed. "I just hope my little boy recovers soon."

 

* * *

 

 

 Fon was to stay with them for a month. 

Kuroo couldn't help the sinister smile that crept up his face when he had heard the news from his mother. It was going to be so _fun._ He just loved poking at the Arcobaleno, testing out various tactics just to hit a nerve and watch the Chinese turn all uncomfortable or even lose his cool-headed nature when he did. 

Why was he doing that?

 Frankly speaking, he had no idea either. Maybe he was just so bored of playing the role of a six year old? Or maybe, now that he was in elementary school—

His eyes darkened at the thought of his new school which he had begun attending not less than a couple of months back. Of all the other elementary schools out there in the whole of Kyoto, he just had to land up in the same one which Ken- _fucking-_ taro had enrolled into. No, wait. Scratch that.

That brat chose the same school Kuroo was to attend. 

He smirked. Of course, that was a better way to put it than rather thinking that it was a pure coincidence the two were together again or that Fate had worked its magic to weave such a situation.

 "Kuroo, you're supposed to be finishing up your homework. What are you smirking for anyway?"

"Hello Sepira." He drawled without bothering to turn to face the woman who he hadn't seen for a few days already. "Where have you been? Rendezvousing with your other _'ghostly pals'_ in the graveyard I presume?"

The Giglio Nero Primo sighed. "Again with that ridiculous presumption of yours Kuroo, and no. I was in Italy for—" 

"Italy!?" The boy whipped his head around, so fast that it would have snapped.

She nodded in response with a happy smile and a faraway look. "It has drastically changed over the years." 

"You can travel places?"

"Of course I can. I am not tied down to any particular thing that prevents me from exhibiting my own freewill such as travelling around the world too if I wished to." She replied before meeting his eyes with her sky blue orbs. "I am not entirely a ghost in the first place. While the dead souls remain in a corporeal form to finish some unfinished task, I was simply brought to this world with a mission to watch over you."

Kuroo made a face. "I still don't see the difference you're trying to imply here no matter how many times you mention it." 

"No matter." The woman laughed and waved her hand. "It was a nice change, going to Italy instead of Na—…touring Japan."

The boy frowned as he noticed her slip. He wasn't stupid enough not to understand what she was about to say. "What have you been visiting Namimori for?" 

"You're a sharp one." Sepira chuckled as her look of surprise vanished from her clear features. 

"So?" 

"Well, I went to see how Giotto's descendant is faring." 

"That blond idiot of the CEDEF?"

"No no." She shook her head with a soft smile as though recollecting a fond memory. "I'm talking about the son of that _'blond idiot_   _of CEDEF'."_  

"Who are you talk— wait. Kyoya turned two this year, then that means—" Kuroo's eyes widened at the sudden realisation. "—this is the year Sawada Tsunayoshi is born."

"An absolutely adorable child he is." Sepira nodded. "It's amazing how he radiates so much warmth like a true sky even when he's just a mere baby. He reminds me so much of Giotto."

"He was known as Neo-Vongola Primo in my time for a reason." Kuroo mused as he wore a thoughtful look while tapping his pencil against the blank notebook infront of him. He turned to face Sepira again with furrowed brows. "And you haven't told me yet, why do you occasionally visit Italy?"

"Why can't I?" 

"Sepira…I don't like it when people stall, you do know that right?" 

The ghost fondly smiled. "Of course I do. Two years and I already know enough, like how your eye starts twitching when you begin losing your patience—" 

"I do not." He frowned as he abruptly interrupted the woman's rant. 

He was not an easy person to read. 

Never was in his previous life and never will be in this one too. 

"Of course." She laughed. "I went to visit my famiglia."

"Even when you're dead, probably long forgotten already and can't be seen by them?" Kuroo arched an eyebrow.

Oh yes, she was even used to his straightforwardness and lack of sympathy.

"The ring called to me." She replied with a twinkle in her eyes and a forlorn sigh. "So soft was its calling, it was hard not to respond to it every time and reminiscence the past. And yes, despite all of what you stated, I still went to visit them. It's not a crime wanting to know how one's descendents are doing now, is there?" 

"The ring—"

 A knock on the door interrupted his question and he huffed as he hissed out an "enter". He despised being cut off in the middle of his sentences. Who was it who wanted to meet him at nine in the middle of the night anyway? 

 _"Jeune_  garcon _."_ Alison greeted him as she entered with narrowed eyes and scanned the room, seeming to look for something. "Who were you talking to?"

"Myself. They say talking to yourself is quite beneficial to you." Kuroo shrugged with an air of nonchalance as he sent a piercing gaze over to Sepira from the corner of his eye. At his _tante's_ look of disbelief, he rolled his eyes. "Or would you prefer it if I said that I had an _imaginary friend_ with whom I was just having an intense conversation before you interrupted us? Does that notion favour better in this situation?"

He _always_ had to come up with an excuse whenever someone had caught him talking to what they presumed was "thin air". And frankly, he was growing tired of all his excuses and running out of witty ones to tell as well. Though, the imaginary friend idea was not too bad of an idea. Children did have imaginary friends, afteral.

"Is there anything you so urgently wanted that you couldn't possibly wait for the morning to confront me, tante?"

"Your parents have assigned you to be tutored." She replied. "I just came to tell you about it beforehand so that you don't throw one of your tantrums that end up breaking Chinaware and creating a mess of the parlour, in front of our guest."

 "Tutored?" Kuroo furrowed his brows. "And why, of all things would they want to have me tutored? I don't require any teachers to help me with my studies—"

 "Martial arts."

 "What?"

 "You will be tutored, no, trained by your uncle in martial arts." Alison elaborated as she watched in amusement the colour slowly drain from the boy's face. "Starting tomorrow, seeing that it's a Saturday and a holiday for you."

 "Martial arts!?" He spluttered. "They want me to learn martial arts!?"

 "I don't like repeating myself _jeune garcon."_

"B-But—why?"

"Self-defence."

"No, I get that whole part." Kuroo waved it off. "What I'm having a really hard time trying to comprehend right now is why of all people is _Uncle_ Fon —my now so called tutor— for this?" 

"Well, he's most skilled." She simply raised a brow. "And—"

"He's a baby." He interjected, despite knowing the truth behind the Arcobaleno, and that the Chinese had once been —still was?— the world's greatest martial artist before being cursed into an infant all to secure the balance of the Tri-ni-set.

Of course, his parents had also never disclosed anything personal or remotely related to Fon's…predicament, so _this_ was not an overly unexpected reaction from him. Obviously. 

Alison paused, probably being unable to come up with a proper answer that wouldn't raise more questions. She sighed. "Get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." 

"Hey hey! You haven't answered me yet!"

Kuroo shook his head and turned back to his notebook after his _tante_  had shut the door and told him that he'd receive answers tomorrow. A smirk slipped onto his lips as he twirled the eraser tipped pencil in his fingers. Thoughts of his conversation with Sepira were tucked far behind his mind as he ran a couple of schemes through his brain. "Tomorrow is going to be really _fun."_  

"I hope you're not planning on troubling your uncle, Kuroo."

 

* * *

 

 

T'ai chi ch'uan. 

Kuroo was not really in the mood to be impressed by the fact that he was being taught by one of the greatest martial artist to have existed in the world. Rather, his attention was solely focused on the pain from stretching his little body in ways he had clearly been unaware could be possible, in the past few days. Damn the muscle fatigue. And damn his uncle who simply waved it off saying that he would grow used to it eventually and he would face no pain later on.

Couldn't the man understand how painful it was for a kid to bear the after effects of sudden and prolonged stretching? God, he felt like he had just run a marathon from one end of the world to the other. 

Hell, he couldn't even walk properly to class! Let alone his room after training was done for the day. 

And yeah, wasn't tai chi supposed to do with health and not pain? 

"Those stretching exercises are another branch of martial arts." Fon simply replied with that infuriatingly calm smile of his. 

"I thought you said we would be focusing on t'ai chi ch'uan." The raven head deadpanned.

"Which we are." The Storm Arcobaleno calmly replied. "But it doesn't mean we can't focus on other forms of martial arts too."

Kuroo pulled himself off the ground where he'd just finished an exercise which involved him to execute a split —and a pretty damned smoothly executed one on his part indeed despite it being a just few days since he picked it up. Who could blame him for being such perfection? 

The body of children were so flexible unlike that of adults, much easier to manipulate and bend to one's own freewill, hence the pain from overexertion of his muscles.

"Alright. Now today being a Saturday, we will be doing something new." 

"Last time you said that, you just taught me how to _breathe_ which —for your information— was something I grew up doing all along with every other living creature on the planet who takes in oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide, and also the main reason why I'm still alive because people who don't _breathe_ are usually six feet under the ground." 

Fon just ignored another one of the boy's rants as he sat crossed leg on the carpet grass. "Take your position."

Kuroo huffed and did as he was told. "Now what?"

"Take your position." The Chinese repeated even with his eyes shut. 

The boy rolled his eyes before closing them, straightening his back and placing his hands as he usually did when it came to another one of those meditation exercises which was mainly to do with well... _breathing._

 "Today we focus on unveiling the secrets of your qi."

 "Spiritual energy?"

 "Life force." 

"Oookay?"

"Focus." Fon said sharply. "Focus, and find it."

"What? You expect me to find my life force? My _fucking_ soul?" 

SMACK!

"Geez, that was very unnecessary!" Kuroo grumbled. "Fine, I'm focusing."

He breathed in and slowly exhaled, clearing his mind of all thoughts in the process. One of the main things when it came to meditation was not getting distracted and having a clear mind. A very difficult thing to do in the beginning since one ended up remembering even the most irrelevant things in life while trying not to think of _anything._

Like how there was a possibility of dying if one consumed too much chocolate. 

Well, _shit._  

 _Inhale._ Exhale.

Kuroo felt at peace and calm, like a weight being taken off his shoulders as he eventually steadied his breathing to a slow pace. 

"Everyone has a life force which commonly ranges from a variety of seven attributes."

_Is he talking about dying will flames?_

"Like the electrifying lightening, the raging storm, the bright sun, the drifting cloud, the calming rain, the deceiving mist—" (Kuroo held back his snort at the mist's description. Couldn't they find another adjective apart from the word 'deceiving'? Apparently not.) "—and the harmony of the sky. 

You can have a number of the common different elements flowing inside you, but there is only one which you will discover is your main element."

_The deceiving mist._

"Now, look into yourself and find out your element. It will of course take time since it is usually dormant in most people who have no knowledge or intention to make use of it. However, when you search and reach out for it, it will respond to you and accept your control over it." 

Kuroo was lost to time as he explored the inside of himself. It almost felt like forever before suddenly, he felt a sensation weave through his whole being as his mind brushed upon something rather unusual within him. And what a pleasantly new sensation it was. He knew what it was like, embracing his own flames and using it from all those past years of experience, but this?

He couldn't seem to find the right words to express _this._

Tendrils of calming indigo waved lazily from what looked like a core that he could…not exactly see but well, see. It was difficult to explain, call it viewing the core with the help of his inner eye perhaps? 

It was very interesting, seeing as how he had never really come across such sights of his core back when he was Rokudo Mukuro. 

And such an enticing and beautiful colour it was. 

But there was something funny about it.

 A nagging sensation —call it his intuition, yes, not only Sawada Tsunayoshi had that— told him that the core was supposed to be in the shape of an orb and _definitely_ not have loose tendrils waving about, making it seem as though his flames were… _oh fuck._ They were leaking out!

 _Retreat!_ His mind screamed at him.

Reaching out for it right now as instructed did not seem like a good idea at all. It would only cause more of his flames to drain out of him at a faster rate. Why was this happening!? Did it have to do with him accessing his flames at the fragile age of two? Shit, he knew it was a bad idea but he didn't think it would have been that bad of an idea. Come on, Fon was —as of now— a two year old too for _fuck's_ sake! 

He had just used his flames out of emergency at that time to prevent himself from falling into the clutches of death again. And that too because of _that_  dog!

But it was so…seductive. 

He couldn't ignore the call, couldn't control the curiosity of child's body he was in. 

He felt himself reaching out for that warm feeling that promised peace.

_So deceiving._

_So intoxicating._  

_So…like home._

And well, he knew he was _fucked._

 

* * *

 

 

Fon sensed something was wrong the moment he felt a whiplash of uncontrolled energy hit him.

His eyes immediately flew open and with horror, took in the sight of his nephew convulsing and coughing out blood rather violently. This wasn't supposed to happen. What the hell went wrong!? Could it be that the boy had found his qi already!? But that was absurd! 

Kuroo was still just an inexperienced child!

This exercise was only meant for the boy to attain another level of concentration before he actually discovered his qi within himself. And that was supposed to be only after a year or two.

He wasted no time in knocking out the boy who seemed to be trapped within his own mind when Kuroo did not respond to Fon's calls to snap out of the state of meditation that was clearly worsening his situation by the second. The boy needed to be attended to, and he needed to be attended to now.

 And he needed someone to help, to assist him. 

"Izanami!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support!


	6. Chapter 6

6\. Of flames.

_[Four years ago…]_

It was all because of _the_ dog.

That huge and dangerous looking beast with teeth befitting for a shark was the reason why he ended up so high on the tree. Who the hell kept a ferocious Great Dane to guard the back garden anyway!? Apparently, his father did. That man was so very paranoid when it came to security, for reasons unknown.

He wouldn't be surprised if his father's motto was on the lines of "safety first".

Kuroo, being the adorable two year old that he was had snuck out of his room to get away from his tante's constant watch the moment the woman had gone to fetch his afternoon meal. He couldn't be blamed for doing so because he was afteral, not your average child who required an adult around him at all times when he was not sleeping. The way his aunt had been keeping him under his nose was _so_  suffocating, he needed a breather.

Hence, the escape.

He would have gone to some other part of the manor if he had known that there was a monster in the back garden. Like perhaps the courtyard or get lost in the mini forest behind the manor. But no, he ended up in the garden at the back because it was the closest thing his little legs could carry him to without starting to wobble.

The two year old was lucky to not have run into any of the maids or security that walked about the hallways at every hour. If he had, he would have been sure that they would immediately whisk him off to his room without lending an ear to hear his "cute" and "adorable" request to take him elsewhere from _that_ god-forsaken place.

The carpet grass looked very inviting as he hopped off the raised wooden platform and landed on his butt. It didn't hurt as much as it should have, thanks to his more than necessary baby fats on his bottom.

A giggle escaped his lips in his glee at being able to "ninja" himself away from his _tante._ He could totally imagine the look on her face when she walked into his room and found out he was nowhere in sight.

Kuroo sighed as he just sat there and let the afternoon sunshine kiss his ivory skin. The light spring breeze added to the serene atmosphere he soon lost himself in. Well, that was before he heard the growl…

He snapped his head towards the right where he had heard a deep throated growl.

And damn did his heart leap to his throat at the sight of the Great Dane baring his teeth at poor little him.

Hell, imagine yourself a tiny two year old infront of an almost four foot tall monster of a dog. Yup. Definitely _not_ amusing or remotely funny. _At all._

The dog sniffed the air before him as it curiously observed Kuroo, probably wondering what kind of little unaware prey had been presented before it to rip and shred into a million bloody pieces. But that was mostly the crazy and morbid imagination of a two year old taking over, and also playing a really major role in his heartbeat racing at a "un-heart" like speed.

Now he understood why Sawada Tsunayoshi was scared of dogs after being traumatised by one at a young age.

But the Vongola Decimo's "attacker" was a _fucking_ Chihuahua!

He stood on his wobbly two feet while breathing heavier than normal.

 _Careful._ He told himself as he slowly began to back away.

"Woof!"

_Fuck it!_

And so, with just a bark, he did the most stupid and reckless thing one could do to a dog eager to leap onto him at a moment's notice. He turned and ran. Only realising how idiotic of a move it was after he did as the dog barked after him and followed, thinking they were playing some sort of game that would end with him being mauled to death just a few years after coming into this new world.

A totally "un-Mukuro" like shriek escaped his lips as he ran with adrenaline driving him to run faster than any kid his age would have managed to.

And somehow, in his still adrenaline driven state, he found himself high on a branch of the blooming sakura tree by the koi fish pond.

He hiccupped and wiped his face to find tears streaming down his cheeks, much to his disgust. Oh well, he couldn't control the emotions of the body he had attained after being reborn again. If he could, he wouldn't have shrieked or cried in the first place.

…no wonder his vision seemed blurry.

The dog continued barking at him for a few more moments before deciding that he was a total bore and trotted off to some far end of the garden to find stray rabbits or something it could play with.

He sighed in relief. Then froze and then groaned.

Now, just _how_ was he supposed to get down without breaking a bone?

The pond was not too shallow so maybe he could have jumped into it and swam out.

But he didn't know —more like his two year old form didn't know— how to swim. And he didn't want to risk drowning to test and see whether muscle memory would help him.

So instead, he decided to wait out on the branch for _tante_ Alison to come find him or anyone else to do so.

But of course, fate seemed to have other plan in store for him…

CRACK!

He shut his eyes and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. No. Just no. He wished the sound he had just heard was a figment of his imagination. That was _not_ the sound of the branch of the tree slowly cracking under his weight. Come on! He was not heavy for _fuck's_ sake!

SNAP!

…and then he was falling.

_I'm gonna die. I'm gonna fucking die! Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit…_

_NO!_

He was not going to die. Not here. Not because he fell from a tree and ended up drowning. He would _NOT_ die here.

Then suddenly, indigo flames rushed out of him like a torrent of water trapped behind a dam which just broke open. He couldn't see of course since his eyes were shut tight but it was a sight to behold. The flames wrapped around him like a blanket before transforming into wings that carried him away from the tree and placed him gently beside the koi fish pond on the soft grass.

The abrupt unlocking of his dormant dying will Mist flames had made him tired, so tired that the moment his head was placed on the carpet grass, he slipped into a state of sleep. One so deep he didn't even feel it when his tante carried him back to his room after finding him a few minutes later.

And that day, he had a peaceful dream.

Of the place he once called _home._

 

* * *

 

 

_[Present…]_

The sky was blue.

_Wait. Sky!?_

Kuroo immediately sat up from his position on the grass underneath the shade of a huge weeping willow that bore strange silver flowers whose tips were a deep midnight black. He frowned and tried to remember what had just happened to him.

 _Ah, right._ I _reached out for my leaking flames…but where am_   _I_?

"Your mind."

Kuroo whipped his head around, eyes widening at the sight of Sepira before narrowing again. Was it just him or did she seem to have a solid form? Wait. What was she even doing in here in the first place?

"This is your mind, Kuroo." She smiled as she came to stand by his side. "It's a beautiful place if you ask me."

"…what are you doing in here?"

"I'm not your imagination, if you were wondering." The woman's melodious laughter seemed to echo around him. "I told you I was your guide, didn't I?"

_"'Of some sorts'."_

"Yes, a guide of some sorts. And being such, I have access into your mindscape. It's necessary for me to look into your memories and combine them along with my visions. A necessity to aid you in order for you to be able to prevent certain events from happening; so that the world progresses on smoothly with no deviation from the one you lived through previously."

"Oh?" Kuroo raised an eyebrow.

This was the first time she was giving such…insight on what her job truly was.

"Kufufu, and what makes you think I would want to make everything go on smoothly like it did in my previous life?"

"You will have to." Her smile was mysterious as her sky blue orbs met his eyes. "Like right now. If you don't listen to what I have to tell you to do, you'd simply die."

His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by I'm going to die?"

"What I meant. My words are not a riddle, Kuroo. You _are_ going to die here if you don't find a way to control the two flames within you. Your body as a child can't take the strain the flames are giving you as they fight for dominance. If you were older, it would not have been a problem…but circumstances are different as of now."

"Two flames?" The raven head furrowed his brows. "As far as I'm concerned, the Mist has always been my dominant flame. As for the other attribute inside me like every other person out there, it is only that of the Rain which I have never seen a need to utilise in my entire past lifetime. Why would it be fighting for dominance now?"

"It's not the Rain, Kuroo; it's the gift of Death."

…

"...is this the part where I gasp and dramatically exclaim _'the gift of Death!?'?"_

Sepira clearly must have been expecting it because her mysterious allure immediately seemed to deflate, leaving her with a sigh of exasperation. "Yes, Kuroo." She took a seat next to him and ruffled his hair, whether out of some sort of revenge due to not reacting like how she had wanted him to or out of fondness, he did not know. But what he did know was that she _really_ did have a solid form now, if her warm fingers were anything to prove it. "And it was also the part where you were supposed to go into shock and drill questions into me."

"Sorry for being a disappointment, Sepira. But you know that's not how I roll."

"Indeed. I cannot possibly fathom how I forgot such a glaringly obvious trait of yours."

He snorted in response as he moved back a little so that his back was resting against the bark of the weeping willow. "Alright."

"…should I continue with it then?"

"Kufufu, please do. I don't think I'm getting out of here any sooner unless I solve this _'problem',_ and there seems nothing interesting to do other than listening."

Sepira nodded. "Well then, the flame within you is a gift of Death, it is called the _Flame of Hades._ And yes, it's a special flame type like how you have Xanxus of the Varia's _Flame of Wrath,_ the Vindice's and Daemon Spade's _Flame of Night,_ and all the other types the memories of your previous lifetime holds the information of." She paused, waiting for her words to sink in, only continuing when he gave a nod of confirmation that he was following her.

"As you might have already guessed, your flames are a result of dying once and being reborn. Hence it is the gift of Death. But of course, your circumstances were special. Not all who die and are reborn again bear this _gift._ If I recall correctly, you had a special ability called the _'Six Paths of Reincarnation',_ did you not?"

"Yes. It was a result of experimentation coupled with occult rituals that resulted in my visitation of the six realms that exist according to Buddhism. It was a feat deemed impossible, only by fools luck did they achieve such a noteworthy accomplishment and managed to carve the memories of my visitation to all those realms into my eye, hoping to turn me into a weapon for their own benefit because of the abilities I attained." Then he shrugged in an uncaring manner. "A pity their own creation turned on them instead. You should have seen the looks on their faces when the first scientist went down with a machete embedded on his neck and his pretty blood spluttered out like a fountain, his wife's reaction was by far the best I can remember."

"I did not ask for such a graphic description." Sepira winced. "Anyway, the attainment of your _unique_ ability was, as you said, a result of an experimentation gone extremely lucky. You did not even have to die to be able to go through all those six paths then, but now that you _did_ die and were actually reborn this time, you ended up becoming a _very_ special case."

"So now I have this supposed gift of Death which is soon, and most likely, going to be the death of me if I do nothing about it?"

"Exactly." She paused for a moment, as though trying to find the right words. "From the aspect of Buddhism, we can say that you unlocked a seventh path."

"If I recall correctly, Buddhism does not only have six paths but rather a lot more than that. Is this related with what you're implying?"

"I'm relieved you're catching up to what I'm saying." Sepira nodded. "But this path has no specific ability for you to attain like the other paths did, rather, you simply obtain a new type of flame, the _Flames_   _of Hades."_

"So what is this new flame's attribute?"

"Time."

He raised a brow at her reply. "Time?"

"Yes, its property is to do with time. I am not so sure of it myself; it's up to you to figure out how to actually control it. But what I do know is that it has nothing to do with you skipping through time, or anything science can implant in your brain about having an ability that is technically about 'time'.

It is only concerned with the time of the living organisms around you.

Like say, for example, let's take a flower into consideration. The _Flames of Hades_ allows you to quicken the death of a flower or slow down its death, growth or whatever it is that time has to play a role in it. There are obviously limitations but as of now, you will, like I said earlier, have to find more about it yourself."

"…well, that is a lot to take in; and it's somewhat comforting to know that I still retained my eye's ability despite being reborn." Kuroo mused after a brief pause. "But why is _this_ flame named after the Greek god of the Underworld if its attribute is to do with time? Why not Chronos, god of time?"

"The _'Six Paths of Reincarnation'_ goes by many names, one being the _'Six Paths of Hell'_ which can also be known as Hades." She shrugged in reply. "It has its own reasons, don't expect me to be aware of it all, Kuroo."

A sudden sort of earthquake broke the two from the silence that had comfortably settled between them.

…

"…what the _fuck_ was that?"

"Your mindscape slowly giving away to the stress from the flames' fight for dominance?" The Giglio Nero Primo offered.

Kuroo sighed and got to his feet. "I presume you know how to stop this?"

"Of course."

"Please, do show me the way to end this stupid _'fight'._ I do not intend on dying, yet."

 

* * *

 

Fon was stunned.

Why?

The son of his cousin was a Mist.

It came as a shock to him because usually, the Hibari were known for the Cloud attribute they carried down their line of offspring whether it was dormant or active. The discovery was unsettling, it would have been understandable if the boy had a little of the Mist within him, considering the fact that his mother _was_ a Mist too, but to have the Mist as his dominant element?

Now, that was confusing.

He had run a check on his nephew using a few techniques that had to do with flames, having learned it over the past, before making the unsettling discovery. He was no professional but he was not an idiot to not know how…unusual this whole thing was. Fon was a medical specialist too, not that great of one to be recognised worldwide but exceptionally good nonetheless.

And so, according to him, there should have not been such a drastic change of the hereditary flames.

There were other theories he could come up with, but none fitted the case presented before him.

Also, it was _very_ abnormal that the Mist Flames which were so very unstable just this afternoon, and had most likely been so for a really long time, were now so soothing and perfectly stable, like nothing had even gone wrong in the first place. But of course it hadn't completely healed. He had even considered to call upon the famed Doctor Shamal to look into his nephew's problem but decided against it the moment he found out the strange improvement of his nephew's health.

The boy had been suffering from the problem for a few years already for crying out loud! He discovered that his nephew's "mysterious sickness" had been a side-effect of the unstable flames all this while. It explained why ordinary doctors could not find out what illness the boy had been suffering from.

It couldn't have been a sudden miracle that saved Hibari Kuroo from death. No. He had a feeling it was something more than that. But he had no means on finding out what exactly.

And all these confusing happenings were the cause of his forming migraine.

He was thus very grateful to Izanami when she served him oolong tea prepared just the way he liked to take it.

"Will he recover soon?"

"Yes." Fon hummed over the cup of the warm tea. "Remarkably quickly too so I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about. But I cannot assure you full recovery of his health. However, I will tend to his medication personally and make sure relapses aren't likely to happen in the near future."

"Thank you so much." Hibari Izanami breathed the air she didn't know she had been holding in. Her head bowed deep to show her gratitude. "Our family is forever indebted to you. Had you not attended to him on time…"

Her words didn't need to be completed because Fon knew just what she was trying to say.

"It's no problem. I am happy I was able to help." He replied. "Though, I must say, your son is…a very confusing young lad."

The woman laughed, the sleeve of her kimono concealing her smile of amusement that now played on her lips. "He is. And that's what makes him so unique, my oldest boy."

"Yes." He found himself nodding in agreement. "Yes, he is. _Extremely_ unique, indeed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope the chapter explained itself well enough, if not, feel free to drop questions regarding your confusions :')
> 
> Yes, a new flame type! Don't worry, Kuroo won't be turning all Mary Sue (Gary Stu?), obviously (._.)/


	7. Chapter 7

7\. The family business.

"I no wuff you, Kwuwo."

"I never asked you to _'woof'_ me, Kyo-chan. You are afteral, clearly, _not_ a dog."

"Now boys, you are not going to start this in here." Alison interrupted the two as she placed the basket of fruits on the table by Kuroo's bedside. "We do not need the both of you yelling in the hospital's premises. Have I been understood?"

"Yessir." Kuroo rolled his eyes as he plucked out an apple from the basket.

Yes. He was in the hospital recovering from "exhaustion", as his mother had termed it.

It had almost been a week since he had woken up with _fuckng_ needles sticking out of his chest _(acupuncture_ —his uncle had said, but to Kuroo it was _attempted_ murder, and hey, both words started with the alphabet 'a' too!) while lying on a hospital bed because apparently, his father didn't want to take chances even though he was fully aware that Fon took care of everything. No offense to Uncle Fon, though the chibi was probably sulking away in a corner despite that calm smile and nod of his head saying, yes, he understood his cousin's reasons for putting Kuroo in the hospital.

He just had a day or two more before he would be discharged and made to resume his classes, in the elementary school he attended of course. Until then, he was stuck in this room of white, trapped in the bed and forbidden to venture out of the room —he had tried to once and only ended up face to face with two hunky men in black suits who ushered him right back in, saying that his father would not allow it. They were security of course; his father's obsession with safety was extreme.

At least the room he was in had an attached bathroom to it.

"Kufufu, I appreciate the whole visiting me out of concern, but honestly, does the family's resident dog really have to tag along too?"

"Kuroo." Alison sighed in exasperation as she shoved an apple in the path of Baby Kyoya's mouth which had been moving fast to clamp down on Kuroo's arm. "And Kyoya, don't make me take away both of your treats and ground the two of you."

The raven head with steel-grey orbs backed away behind his aunt with a glare aimed at his brother while grumpily nibbling on the apple.

"Where's father?" The older of the two siblings questioned as he too bit into the red fruit in his hand. "Another business meeting?"

"Yes. He'll come by in the evening. Or tomorrow."

"I've been curious _tante,_ what exactly is this _business_ that father does?" Kuroo tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing at the way his tante froze for a brief second at his question.

"It's just…family business, Kuroo. You'll learn all about it when you're old enough."

"Is it something illegal? Is that why it's such a big secret and the house is rigged up with so much security measures?"

"You watch too much television, _jeune garçon._ Just know that your father is a businessman, and let that be it. And like I said, you'll understand more when you're older." The woman huffed before moving to adjust his loose hospital robe which was sliding down a shoulder. "So stop asking questions and go to sleep."

"I already slept enough—"

"Can I seweep too?" Baby Kyoya asked, handing his half eaten apple to his aunt as he rubbed his eyes with the other hand. "I feeling seweepy."

"Yes take him home. I'm not gonna share my bed with _him._ Bye, and don't forget to bring back sushi for dinner. The hospital food sucks."

"Language." She sighed again before picking up his younger sibling. "Alright. See you later then, Kuroo. Sleep well."

 

* * *

 

 

His next visitors, to his _unpleasant_ surprise, were his classmates from the elementary school he attended. And yes, that meant that even Sakaguchi Kentaro was amongst them. Of course, he appreciated their visit and if he had been an actual six-year old, he would have been driven to tears out of gratitude. But the thing is…he _wasn't._

Miya-sensei beamed at him before leading his classmates into a song which they had prepared especially for his recovery.

Oh god, he probably needed to drop by the ENT ward after this to check whether or not he'd just busted his eardrums. They sounded like a host of banshees. But he still had to put on a watery smile and a very, _very_ emotional expression to show how touched he was.

And hey, they even brought presents for him!

Most likely because of the fact that he was "friends" with everyone in his class —excluding a certain someone— and they all adored him. Such was the life of a popular boy by the name Hibari Kuroo.

"You can read this Kuroo-kun." A girl with a large bow smiled shyly as she handed him a book on fairytales. "My mother always reads them aloud to me when I'm not feeling well and I get better after hearing the stories. I hope you recover soon enough."

"Thank you, Ayumi-chan." He smiled at her as he placed the book next to his pillow. "I'll make sure to read it, and maybe if I learn the stories, I can be the one to read them out to you someday and make you feel better when you're not feeling well."

She blushed with an awestruck look before shuffling over to the back of the room.

"Chocolates." A familiar voice announced as the owner dumped a paper-bag full of Kuroo's heaven right onto his lap. "They're imported."

For the first time in his life, Kuroo did _not_ hate his self-proclaimed rival. And it would likely remain that way…until the chocolate ran out of course. His surprise must have shown on his face because Kentaro shifted on his feet, feeling very uncomfortable and awkward at the same time.

"This has been the greatest get-well soon present anyone has given me so far." Kuroo looked up and met the other's hazel brown orbs which widened a fraction at his confession. And he wasn't even lying, seeing that no one else had brought him chocolates, not even his family members since his mother had placed a ban on his intake of the brown delight. "Thank you, Kentaro."

The other spluttered before saying it was nothing and disappearing out of his room. It seemed like he was the last one since after that the rest bid him goodbye before filing out of the hospital room.

Kuroo sighed as he sank back down onto his bed.

Now it was back to an eternity of silence.

He just couldn't wait to be discharged.

 

* * *

 

 

Kuroo had picked up a new hobby over the next few months.

He termed it as "Discovering the Family Business".

It came up because there was nothing interesting going on in his life at the moment, and also because everyone was just so tight lipped about it that his curiosity had reached its peak. _Hell,_ even Sepira refused to indulge the secret to him because she believed that it was better if his family told him themselves or he found out about it on his own. This only ended up making him more curious.

Besides, if anything, his _tante's_ reactions were so priceless every time he mentioned some random occupation bordering on the lines of "illegal", it totally made his hobby worth it.

Today, he found himself sitting on Baby Kyoya's bed, reading a book while the other entertained himself with cautiously poking a teddy bear as though it would come to life any moment soon.

Don't mistake it. He wasn't on "brotherly-love" terms with the future Demon of Namimori. This was all because his mother had enforced a new rule that ran somewhere along the lines of making him spend about two hours with his little brother every single day in order to have them "get along" with each other. It was terrible during the first few days but the two siblings somehow managed to _tolerate_ the other's presence as time went on.

"Kyo-chan," Kuroo began, fully aware that his _tante_ was listening into their conversation from the next room where she was reading a book. He knew because he could see her through the open door and so far, she hadn't turned a page in the last ten minutes. "What do you think father does?"

"Ha-bi-vowa." The two year old replied instantly, not breaking his attention from where he was prodding the toy. "Papa…ha-bi-vowa."

The older of the two sighed at his brother's about favourite word, first that stupid phrase and now the silly status Baby Kyoya proudly labelled _everyone_ with.

Hibari Kuroo felt the shame from the fact that he couldn't save the world and his little brother from those two dreaded _"listen-to-this-my-vocabulary-has-increased!"_ phases in the _little demon's_ life.

He could still remember the shock that coursed through him when he had returned from classes one day only to find out that the chibi Vongola's Strongest Guardian had picked up _those_ words from his _tante._

"Kufufu, like the one who's in charge of a slaughter house? Just that it's a slaughter house meant for humans and not cattle, and it's where organs are harvested for sale in the black market?"

Baby Kyoya actuially paused in his insistent poking before turning to Kuroo and then slowly nodding. "Uhn. Slaw-tah."

Not a second later…

_"Jeune garcon!"_

"Kyo-chan started it first!"

__

* * *

 

 

He sat on the dining table, drinking his cup of milk and scrunching up his face in disgust as he watched the way his little brother attacked his breakfast. There were pieces of rice all over the younger's face and Baby Kyoya didn't seem to be bothered by it, and instead proceeded to swallow a whole piece of fatty-tuna.

"Is that even healthy for him?" Kuroo turned to his _tante_ who was enjoying her cup of tea. "For all I know, he could choke on it and die."

 _And we won't want him dying now because if he did, what the_ fuck _would happen to the Vongola!?_

"He won't." She dismissed as she reached out to wipe away the rice sticking onto Baby Kyoya's face. "So don't worry about it and finish up your breakfast quickly, you will be late for your classes if you don't hurry."

Kuroo shrugged as he brought his cup up to his lips. "Not my fault if he _does_ end up dying. I'll just say,  _'_ _I told_ _you so'_ when the time comes."

Alison shot him a reprimanding look.

There was a brief pause before the raven head decided to bring up his favourite topic of discussion, seeing that neither of his parents were around at the moment. "So…"

He inwardly smirked when he saw his _tante_  stiffen. He didn't understand how but she _always_ seemed to know when he was about to bring up the topic of the so called "family business".

"…a drug lord?"

"HIBARI KUROO! Where on earth did you learn such a word!?"

Baby Kyoya simply shook his head as he watched his older brother scamper out of the dining room with his aunt hot on his heels. "Ha-bi-vowas."

 

* * *

 

 

"Oya? _Tante!_ There's a bento filled with kidneys in the fridge, is father really an organ dealer in the black market!? Is that why he has a lot of bodygua—"

"There's no such bento in the fridge, _jeune garçon!"_

"…did you just check to confirm it?" _*cue dramatic gasp*_ "Have you no faith in my father!?"

…

"Aha! He's a human trafficker, isn't he? I always wondered why I usually hear screams of pleadings coming from the storehouse next to our hous—"

 _"Jeune garçon,_ we have _no_ storehouse in the Hibari manor's compound."

…

"Kufufu, I can't imagine him as one but they say never judge a book by its cover so…is father an assassin? Perhaps a hitman? Is that why he has tons of money?"

"That's _it!_ No television for this month!"

"Aww, come on! Pokémon Jhoto's ending this week!"

…

"An informant?"

"…"

…

"How about a secret underground doctor?"

"Your father did not take up any medical courses for his education, _jeune garçon."_

"Are you saying my father's not intelligent enough?"

 

* * *

 

 

In the end, all it took was a man clutching on to his bleeding side who had forced his way into the compound while mumbling incoherent words about needing to _"see the oyabun urgently"_ before promptly collapsing unconscious at Kuroo's feet as the boy had stepped out of the manor —to get going to school— for him to finally come to know what the whole "family business" was.

The raven arched an eyebrow as he eyed the tattoos peeking out from beneath the unconscious man's collar before his gaze trailed over to the man's hand as though searching for—

"Oya, and here we have a half-amputated pinkie." He smirked. "Also, body tattoos…check."

His previous guesses hadn't been too far from _this._ He had _had_ an inkling suspicion that this might have also been the Hibari "family business", but never voiced it out since he didn't have enough proof. Not like he even had proof for his other guesses in the first place. But now, the evidence was right before him!

And likely bleeding to death from a gun-shot wound at the same time.

He turned to his _tante_ who looked very pale and frozen in her spot right behind Kuroo. _Poor woman._ The raven had seen far more gruesome sights in his previous lifetime —hell he'd also been the reason for so many such gruesome sights ever since he was nine— so this wasn't anything like a big deal for him.

By then, the guards stationed around the compound had rushed over, hauling the man away and into the manor. The faster they attended to him, the better because Kuroo knew how such wounds could claim lives when not seen to properly. Not that he cared anyway.

"Kufufu, so…" He began with a smug smile as his stormy bluish-grey orbs met his _tante's_ dread-filled blue ones. "The yakuza?"

 

* * *

 

 

"He just wore a smirk the whole time as though there wasn't a dying person in front of him in the first place!" Alison exclaimed in distress.

"Well," began Hibari Akihito as he mused over his wife's cousin's words. "…that just proves that he is a true Hibari. We do not falter at the sight of such petty little issues. We stand strong and hold our ground through all circumstances."

The French woman stared at the head of the Hibari with a clearly horrified look. "He's a six year old!"

"Turning seven soon."

"Izanami! You don't have any say in this? It's your son we're talking about! His reaction is not a normal one, because most children would either panic or cry but— He. Just. _Smirked!"_

"Alison. We all know that my boy is very mature for someone his age. I say it's nothing to worry about. If anything, we now know that he is very brave and now, that is something to be proud of."

Alison huffed and shook her head in disbelief before plopping down on a nearby sofa feeling rather faint. She muttered under her breath as she massaged her temples. _"Japanese."_

"Dear, are you going to talk to Kuroo about the family business once he comes home?" Hibari Izanami asked as she placed a gentle hand on her husband's arm.

"It seems like I should." The man nodded. "We won't want him staying in the dark for so long."

"And will you introduce him to the _kumicho_ as well?"

"Perhaps this winter. Afteral, father seems quite keen to meet our sons."

…

"Don't drag Hibari Kyoya into this too!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Hibari are yakuza. I bet it wasn't much of a surprise since there are plenty fics out there that say the same :'D
> 
> Oyabuns are like the sub-bosses who come below the Kumicho, i.e. the boss of the entire organisation. Well, at least that's the conclusion I came to after my short research on the yakuza. Do feel free to correct me if I'm wrong xD
> 
> And for those of you who think Kuroo's meeting the kumicho, i.e., his grandfather in the next chapter, I'm sorry but no. I'll be speeding up with his life in the upcoming chapters and covering some mini-arcs along the way as well instead cause I am very, very eager to start canon xD
> 
> And a big thanks to everyone for your support! :')


	8. Chapter 8

8\. His ambition.

It was a stare down.

A match he was clearly losing this time around too because _this_ was his mother he was having the "stare down" with, and she also happened to be a very formidable competitor when it came to stare downs— meaning he _never_ won against her even once.

He narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Yes."

"I'm seven! I can make my own decisions!"

"No, Kuroo. You will do exactly what I _want_ you to _do."_

"But I don't want to!"

"You _will._ Don't make me call your father—"

"Why can't I keep my hair long!?" Kuroo exclaimed in exasperation. Honestly, what was so bad with having long hair? Girls had it and even guys did, hell, a certain commander of the Varia had the longest _(and silkiest)_ hair he had ever known any person to ever have in his previous lifetime! This was unfair!

"Even Uncle Fon has long hair!"

The raven haired woman just raised a brow at his statement.

He frowned. "What?"

"Tell me then, _why_ do you want to keep your hair long?"

Kuroo rolled his eyes. _Because the_ "me" _in the life before this had long hair (until death) which made him look_ so _badass and_ I _can't envision myself without long hair in this life too._

"Kufufu, because I _want_ to."

Yup, splendid bratty response. What? Don't judge. He was supposed to be a kid; he was simply playing his role.

His mother now had an expression that appeared to say _"really?"_ as she stared impassively at him. Thankfully, the two were interrupted by a maid who announced that there was a guest waiting to meet the woman. Izanami sighed. "We will continue this later, Kuroo."

However, the topic of his hair was never touched again.

Well, until a certain day when the Hibari were seated together for dinner…

And it was all because of _that_ response, an entirely innocent one that threw them off-guard.

Dinner was a quiet affair as usual with a few comments about people his parents knew being thrown about the table as the family of four, along with Alison DeLauro dined together.

Kuroo paused mid-chew. "Kyo-chan, please pass me the salt."

The three-year old, however, seemed to ignore him in favour of carefully pushing the greens to the side of his plate.

 _"Kyo-chan."_ The older of the two siblings felt his patience slowly wearing thin.

"Kyoya." His tante lightly tapped on the little raven head's arm. When he looked up and met her eyes with a questioning look, she gestured over to the salt. "Pass the salt over to your brother. He wants it."

Baby Kyoya simply blinked.

"But I don't have a brother."

"Don't be ridiculous, Kuroo _is_ your brother!" Alison exclaimed with her eyes wide in surprise at the sudden declaration from the youngest.

And here Kuroo had thought the two of them were getting along just fine, seeing that they'd only pick fights with each other about a few times a week compared to the "every- _single-day"_ routine they usually followed in the past two years.

"Kyo-chan, what have I _done_ to you to make you _forget_ about my existence?"

The three-year old furrowed his brows as he turned to face him.

Even their parents were now staring with interest at the two of them.

"But…Kuroo is a girl." Baby Kyoya innocently replied. "So, isn't Kuroo my sister?"

…

Ah, the hair.

It was _always_ his hair.

But he blamed it more on the touch of femininity he _unmistakeably_ inherited from his mother, the whole lovely dark and long eyelashes, small lips and eyes that were not as sharp and slanted in the true _"only-for-the-Hibari-males"_ fashion.

And he had only gotten his hair's length to his shoulders! Also, he had always had it tied at all times and it was in no circumstance, the slightest bit girly, no, it was manly! _Fuck you, Kyoya!_

Hibari Kuroo placed down his chopsticks with an unimpressed expression etched out on his delicate features. "Alright, I'm getting _the_  haircut."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Today was an important day.

 _The_ day when all the students announced their ambitions in life to their classmates along with a re-introduction of themselves, seeing that they were now all third graders—

…was what every other eight year old kid had in their minds. All except for a certain stormy greyish-blue eyed boy who despite having an excited demeanour on as well was internally bored out of his wits. Why was everyone making such a big deal out of it?

Admittedly, he didn't know much of school life seeing that when he was eight in his other life he was busy being cut up, stabbed with needles and shifted from various laboratories— but still. Just what was so great about going up infront of the whole class just to read out your ambitions?

"—and I want to become an astronaut when I grow up then I can always look at the stars—"

" —work in the zoo because animals are so cute—"

"—I want to be a the Prime Minister of Japan and when I do, there will be—"

And half of their ambitions were _way_ too ambitious or they simply had no idea about the real content of their work.

It was _fucking_ stupid.

"Alright. That was a great ambition Kentaro." Saya-sensei beamed as the wavy dark haired boy marched back to his seat with a rather smug look. "I'll be looking forward to that future of yours."

"Thank you, sensei."

"Now, next up we have— ah! Hibari Kuroo."

Only when the whole class turned to look at him with very eager looks did the raven head realise that it was actually his turn. Well, who could blame him for spacing out?

He smiled pleasantly as he picked up the sheet of paper where he had written his impromptu speech on. He had completely forgotten about it until this morning when Sepira had piped in a question regarding his ambition, making him to hurriedly grab the nearest pencil and book and scribble down some shit for namesake which was necessary for him to keep up with his appearance as a "model student".

"Good morning everyone, as you all know my name is Hibari Kuroo. My birthday falls on the ninth of June and I am eight years old. I like the colour blue and—" he paused rather dramatically as he took on a shy expression, complete with the blush that painted his ivory skin "—and I l-love my baby brother, Kyo-chan. I love my mommy and daddy too but, my little brother, I…umm…I think I love him most."

The girls swooned at how sweet it was while the teacher looked as though she could replace the sun in the morning sky with that beaming smile that was slapped onto her face. As for the guys, they simply exchanged nods with each other, seeming impressed with how the raven head still seemed so cool even after that confession.

_Fools._

How they easily fell for such a deceiving lie.

But well…it wasn't so much of a lie now seeing as to how his relationship with the future _Demon of Namimori_ seemed to have drastically improved after that incident. And Kyo-chan was now undeniably such a sweet and adorable child in his eyes during the moments when he wasn't intent on biting him.

Yes, Kuroo had _actually_ thought of getting a check-up after he caught himself thinking such a "thought". Afteral, it was one thing he'd never expected himself to even _think,_ not even in a million years.

But don't mistake him; the only person he loved most in this world was himself. And no one would _ever_ come to snatch the position of number one in his heart but himself. Call him an egoist if you must.

"My ambition in life is…" Kuroo stopped as he stared down at the paper where his ambition ran somewhere along the lines of wanting to be a professional photographer when he grew up. He paused for a moment, then thought to himself, _'Why should_ _I lie_ _about what_   _I_   _want to become?'_

He neatly folded his paper and tucked it into the pocket of his pants and lifted his head up with a smile to meet the curious faces of his classmates _(except for Kentaro who wore_ a _look of suspicion)_ and his teacher's as well.

If anyone later asked him why he even did it _(Sepira, for example)_ his answer would be that he was bored of his mediocre life. He needed gunshots, screams, blood and gore…not being stuck in a classroom full of kids who would undeniably undergo a major change of ambition by the time they reached high-school.

"I think I just decided to change what I want to become in the future, sensei."

"Umm, alright." Saya-sensei nodded quite slowly, unsure of how to react to this since it was a first in her whole teaching career. No kid ever decided to suddenly change their ambition when they were already up in the front and beginning to read out their introduction. "Go on with it then."

"So what is your ambition in life?"

"My ambition in life?" Kuroo took a deep breath. "To conquer the world because you see, destroying the mafia is so last season and I never got around with it the last time anyway…kufufu."

…

Everyone stared at him, expressions like that of a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car. Even Saya-sensei seemed blank as she slowly processed the words of her favourite student.

_What? Conquer the world? Destroy mafia?_

"Think about it, the world in your grasp, at the tip of your fingers like a new toy for your birthday; to marvel over, to be in awe, to be excited like you've never been before. To brag about, to show off, to display it like a golden trophy and to bask in everyone's envy." Kuroo paused to take a breath. "Until of course, your childish senses get bored, you deem it unworthy and it's just _…'another toy'."_

He smiled when he saw that he now had everyone's attention, even their class bully who had been busy throwing spit-balls at some unfortunate victims had actually stopped his activity and listened with rapt attention.

"But no. That's not what I would do, what you think I would do just because I'm still a child, because I'm just another eight year old. Call it ambitious but not impossible 'cause surely, it's a much easier task than gathering _all_ stray dogs in the world to keep them _"safe and happy"_ in a nice big shelter."

At this, the girl with big doe eyes in the front blushed furiously.

Kuroo faced her with a raised eyebrow. "Kufufu, did you even consider what might happen if you did that? Dogs being well, dogs are rather territorial. Ever thought they might maul each other to death for being unacquainted with each other? And we're talking about at least a millions strays here. I'm sorry but your vision for a _"safe and happy"_ shelter would turn into an international news headline for becoming a scene with lots of blood, gore…and _dead_ dogs."

The said girl turned white as sheet and so did a few other soft-hearted girls who looked like they were about to get sick from imagining what the raven head had just said. The class bully loudly sniggered, making the girl turn from white to beetroot red once again.

Kuroo rolled his eyes. They were so immature, one reason why he didn't like kids despite being one at the moment.

"But what's more ridiculous is the thought of building mobile suits or—" The Hibari pointed at the bully. "What did you call them again?"

"Umm…Gundam…?" The bully gulped at the sudden attention that had been shoved right at his face.

"Yes, building a _Gundam_ for every single person in the world. Rather than doing everyone a favour by giving them the opportunity to go to space and battle aliens —who, mind you, _don't_ exist— you'll drain the Mother Nature of her resources, the people of their money and achieve nothing. Now, _that_ is something much more impossible than the notion of wanting to conquer the world.

"Well, don't take ill my words. I'm not calling you fools _(seeing that you already are),_ I'm just helping you differentiate ambitions from dreams. Ambitions are goals which are attainable. Dreams? They're meant to entertain your sleeping self so please, just leave them in the hands of Morpheus, don't bring them out from the realm they belong in."

A few of his classmates slowly nodded, unsure of how to react while the rest stared at him like he'd just announced that he was actually an adult who had been reborn again. His sensei? She looked very, very clueless, not knowing whether to stop him or to let him go on and continue to crush the inevitably childish ambitions of his classmates.

"Right so, I'm pretty sure you're all curious, and wondering and _trying_ to possibly fathom, _'Why conquer the world?'._ My answer? Don't hurt yourself trying to, and don't even _attempt_ to comprehend something your brains can't possibly compute seeing that you weren't born a genius like me." Kuroo flashed a pleasant smile to his audience. "So, please, let me elaborate it for you instead, my _dear_ friends, on my ambition which I can assure you is far more realistic than _most_ of your ambitions."

"To start off with, first let me pose this question— you." He pointed at a mousy looking boy who was seated infront of him. "What would you do _if_ you managed to conquer the world?"

Well, I'll…umm…I'll make food free for everyone?"

"Kufufu, and drive the food production units into poverty because of a drastic fall in their income which will in turn have an adverse effect on the national income and thus, lead to the collapse of the economy, not only that of a country's but that of the world's?"

The boy simply blinked, slowly processing all of what the raven head had just said. Kuroo, however, already had his attention to another one of his classmates, pointing at a brown haired boy with glasses who was seated in the back.

"And what about you? What would you do?"

"I'd make sure there's world peace!" The boy exclaimed with a rather smug look.

Kuroo just smiled. "Not bad, but there will always be a handful of people who will deviate from your cause, turn into rebels and raise revolutions against you, thus leading to your demise."

He then spread out his hands with a deep sigh just because he had a flair for dramatics that would even put Shakespeare's characters to shame, and because he could. "You see, when I say I will conquer the world, I don't mean placing myself on a throne of gold, a crown of jewels on my head and make everyone bow down to me— I'd rather have them grovel at my feet and kiss the ground I walk on— well, coming back to my whole point, I won't conquer the world just to have everyone view me as a king, or an emperor. Kufufu, no, I'll do it in such a way that they view me as a _god._

"Now, conquering the world does not mean coming out of nowhere and suddenly establishing for myself a position at the top. No. First, you start slow and low, like poison slowly slipping into your system. Before you know it, it's inside of you and spreading so rapidly, you have no control over it, not without an antidote, of course. But unfortunately for the world, it will never attain its antidote, thus forcing them to view me as their only saviour.

"Everyone will acknowledge me and my power; I will have in my hands the strings of all major organisations that hold our world together. I will play them like puppets and they will do my bidding without even realising it."

Kuroo paused before turning around to view the wall clock that hung above the blackboard. Five minutes had already passed by, his time was up; he needed to wrap up. He turned back to his still speechless audience with a smirk.

"And as much as I would love to continue, I believe I have to follow the rules and stick to the time limit adjusted by Saya-sensei." He cleared his throat. "The main reason for my cause is simple, it's to make sure maniacs with foolish ambitions don't take over the world and ultimately lead to its destruction. It will be _my_ toy, _my_ trophy, _my_ world. So, join me in my cause, support me and I assure you, you will all enjoy the fruits of my efforts. What say you?"

It only took a few seconds before the whole class was on their feet, clapping and cheering out loudly for him. Now, wasn't that music to his ears?

He smirked.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"I'm home." Kuroo announced as he entered the house after such an eventful day at school.

"Ah, _jeune garçon._ A package came in for you this morning…" Alison greeted him in the hallway, not before eyeing him suspiciously. "It came from Italy, saying you won a prize from some beauty products manufacturing company."

"Oh, the moisturizing oils are here. That's good. I was wondering how long it would take to arrive." The raven head brushed off as though it was nothing.

When his _tante_ raised a questioning eyebrow at him, he simply sighed and replied, "They were doing a promotion campaign for their company in our school, it was through a painting competition. Is it really a surprise that I bagged the first prize?"

"Promotion campaign? An Italian based company doing a promotional campaign in a Japanese school?"

 _"Oui."_ He rolled his eyes as he proceeded down the hallway to get to his room. "Have you ever heard of Multinational Corporations? They have a branch in Japan so why not?"

"Then couldn't the prize have come in from Japan itself?"

"Having a prize specially imported right from Italy is a much catchier way to promote their products _tante."_

There was a pause before she finally gave in. "Alright."

Kuroo internally sighed.

His _tante_ wasn't some dumb person who could be easily manipulated; she was such a tough nut. Truth be told, there was no such competition involved for him to win the prize but rather some far distance possession of certain people in Italy to get the specially prepared olive body moisturizing oils he favoured using in his previous life to be shipped to him.

Who could blame him for being fed up of the moisturizing products available on this side of the globe?

Honestly speaking, he wouldn't have gone to such an extent if online shopping had already become a thing by now.

It would in maybe a year or two's time.

But it hadn't, so yeah.

"By the way, how was Kyo-chan's first day at kindergarten?"

Alison gave a deep sigh from behind him which made the raven head turn around with raised eyebrows. Okay, that wasn't an expression he had been expecting.

"Izanami picked him up after barely an hour." She replied.

"What did he do? Bite someone? I totally knew that was coming." Kuroo snorted.

"No. He—" His _tante_ sighed again. "He came down with a serious case of hives. Apparently, he's allergic…to people."

The raven head remained silent for five whole seconds before collapsing unto the floor, his whole body shaking with laughter. He should have guessed that. Afteral, _the_ Hibari Kyoya _hated_ crowds. Oh god, this was so hilarious.

Alison pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's not funny, _jeune garçon._ He's refusing to even move from bed or even eat, and he's been under his blankets hiding himself from everyone, even your mother, ever since he returned from the doctor's."

Kuroo gasped for breath as he sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. Could this day get any better?

"Aww, little Kyo-chan has such an ego for his appearance." The raven grinned as he got to his feet. "Kufufu, where is he? I'll talk to him."

"Don't even think of taunting him into staying into bed for the rest of the day." She warned.

Kuroo rolled his eyes. "We both know that stage has long past ever since last winter."

Right. She still remembered that time when she had accompanied the boy's parents for an emergency work late at night only to return early in the morning to discover the two siblings cuddled up next to each other and soundly sleeping, a sight she had never expected to witness even in a millennia's time.

"But old habits die hard."

"Or you're just paranoid, _tante."_

The woman huffed before leading him off to his little brother's room. She knocked on the door twice before sliding it open and entering, Kuroo behind her.

"Okay, you can leave now, _tante._ I'm sure Kyo-chan will only want to talk to me." The raven head waved her off before approaching the bed where Baby Kyoya immediately curled into a tight ball, pulling the blankets to cover him like a shield.

"Remember what I told you." She reminded before sliding the door shut and walking away to go on carrying whatever task she had been occupied with before Kuroo's arrival.

"Hello, Kyo-chan." Kuroo greeted as he sat on the edge of his younger brother's bed with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who thought this was such an abrupt ending, it continues on in the next chapter, no worries :'3
> 
> Surprised with the sudden drastic improvement in Kuroo and Kyoya's relationship? I did say I was speeding up with his life xD And my plan for the two was sweet affectionate love for each other right from the start so it's beginning as of now :'3
> 
> About "that incident", I'm planning to make an omake of it if anyone's interested to know. And I'm sorry if Kuroo's speech wasn't impressive, but I tried at least, it was so difficult, I agonised over it for at least two days =.=


	9. Chapter 9

9\. Sepira's advice.

 

It was horrifying.

There were just so many of these...these _small beings._

Squealing, laughing, pushing and playing, it all seemed like a nightmare come to life. No one had told him that there would have been _this_ many of them. No one had, and therefore he didn't know what hit him the moment he had stepped into the kindergarten.

And it was just his first day too.

His mother and aunt bid him goodbyes, they told him to be good before they left him.

…left him on his own, to fend himself against all these _herbivores._

Just what was this place?

He had thought kindergarten was a much calmer environment. Was this what his nii-san had to go through too? How did Kuroo manage to survive? Why didn't he warn him then? Why didn't he tell him beforehand that it was a place crowded with herbivores? Was this revenge for drawing over his homework?

Baby Kyoya shook his head, it was an accident. He hadn't known it was Kuroo's notebook. It looked just like his so he had gone on and drawn on it. But Kuroo had forgiven him; he'd said it was alright even though he seemed a little upset.

Surely, he wouldn't have had a hand in this, right?

"Alright children, gather around, this is your new friend, Hibari Kyoya." A woman _(the mother herbivore?)_ who was definitely in charge of all the little herbivores said as she gestured for the raven to come forward.

At her announcement, all the herbivores turned to face him with their big, big eyes. It was unnerving, being stared at by so many of them.

Baby Kyoya shuffled nervously at his feet as he tucked on the hem of his little blue sweater. He cast his eyes downwards and allowed himself to be led into the circle of the little herbivores by the woman who wore a big smile.

He was starting classes late because he had had caught a flu which had rendered him to bed-rest for a week, making him miss the start of kindergarten by two days.

"You will all be nice with him, won't you?" The mother herbivore asked.

"Yes, sensei!" The little herbivores chirped in reply.

Then…they made their move.

They started tugging him in different directions, talking all at once, their hands on his sweater, on his arms, and on his face too.

They were _too_ loud.

They were _too_ touchy.

He loathed it.

_Ihatethisihatethisihatethisihatethis…_

He just wanted to be alone.

_Ihatethisihatethisihatethisihatethis…_

Oh, how he hated them.

Very soon, he started feeling funny, like he couldn't breathe. The air was too warm, it was just so stuffy. His head felt very dizzy and his stomach lurched in an awful manner.

That was when the red spots began appearing on his skin.

…

And then someone screamed.

 

* * *

 

 

Baby Kyoya threw himself unto his bed and refused to move the moment he'd reached home after a visit to the doctor's. He'd completely ignored everyone who tried to come and pacify him to take his medicine or eat something. No, he wasn't sulking. He had just decided to be in bed for the whole day.

And he was determined to stay that way for…forever.

That was until his older brother came along, of course.

"Hello, Kyo-chan."

The younger raven felt the bed dip as his brother sat on the edge of it. "Go away."

"Now, don't make this difficult." Kuroo huffed as he gently attempted to pry away the covers, only for it to be pulled back in an instant by Baby Kyoya.

"No. I don't want to talk to you…"

"Oya, so now you're throwing a tantrum at your beloved brother?" Kuroo frowned.

"…you didn't tell me there were so many _herbivores._ "

The stormy greyish-blue eyed boy paused for a moment before chuckling. "Kufufu, is that why you're upset?"

"They…they made me turn into this…" Baby Kyoya replied in a muffled tone as he buried his face into his pillow. He growled low. "…I will _bite_ them all to _death._ "

"It's just a case of hives, and it'll disappear eventually. It's not a permanent thing, Kyo-chan." Kuroo said with amusement as he tried tugging on the blankets this time again. "So stop overreacting."

There was some hesitation on part of the younger Hibari sibling. "Really? It will go away?"

"Wait… didn't anyone tell you that?"

"…no."

Kuroo rolled his eyes. "Of course they didn't, those idiots. Did you apply your ointment yet?"

"…not yet."

"Alright, come here; let me put it on for you."

The younger of the two slowly sat up and turned to face his brother, the part of the blanket that covered his face falling onto his lap. He looked _very_ vulnerable with all the rashes on his face and it took all Kuroo had in himself to not pull him into a sudden hug. Really, _that_ incident had such an impact that neither of the two fought like cats and dogs anymore but rather, showed affection in their own unique way.

"Will it hurt?" Baby Kyoya asked as he suspiciously eyed the round container of ointment in his brother's hands.

"No." Kuroo smiled in return. "Here, turn your body towards me so that I can apply it properly."

"…okay."

Kuroo felt pleased with the fact that the future _Demon of Namimori_ had so easily listened to him.

Such was his awesomeness that none could compare to.

"It's cold." Baby Kyoya commented as he watched his older brother apply the ointment onto his arms after being done with his face. "Why is it cold?"

"Because this is supposed to give off a soothing effect, it'll make you feel nicer." Kuroo replied as he gestured for his other arm. "Okay?"

"Hnn, okay."

The two lapsed into silence as the older concentrated on applying the balm on his brother's skin while the other simply watched.

"Alright, we're all done." Kuroo announced as he set the ointment away and helped Baby Kyoya lie down. "You can sleep now, and don't worry about the allergies, remember what I told you?"

The younger raven head nodded with a yawn. "Will you stay here till I fall asleep?"

Kuroo managed to hide his smirk. "I'll stay as long as you like, first let me change out of my uniform."

By the time Kuroo had returned, however, his younger brother was already fast asleep, tired from all the effort he had put into hiding himself from his _tante_ and mother. The raven gently nudged the younger a little over to the side before getting into the covers himself, his homework on his lap along with his pencil box.

As he was halfway through with solving his math sums, an all too familiar woman chose to enter the room, and mind you not through the door like any other normal person, but the wall of course; in true ghost-like fashion.

"Hello, Kuroo." She greeted him, seeming a little tired. "How have you been doing?"

"Better than you have." He replied as he quirked an eyebrow at her dishevelled state. Was it even possible for ghosts to feel tired? No. He wasn't going to ask her, knowing she'd simply reply with her usual, _'I'm not exactly a_   _ghost'_ theory.

"I had to…tend to a conflict that arose." She sighed.

"The Giglio Nero? Tending to it despite been dead?"

"Correct." She nodded with another sigh. "And despite being dead, there are always dreams for communication. Well, we are getting to a solution, but I came to warn you— oh, and that was quite a speech you gave today."

"I thought you were busy attending to some conflict?"

Sepira shrugged with a playful smile. "I have my own ways, but Kuroo, don't take conquering the world too seriously, people think you have a god complex or are suffering from a serious case of— ah, how do the Japanese call it? Oh, Chuunibyou."

At this, the boy stopped writing and looked up at her with a frown. "Excuse me?"

"Hmm? Oh it's nothing, just a moment of breaking the third wall." She hummed happily before abruptly cutting herself off as she remembered something, her orbs suddenly turning a bright blue, caught in a dreamy like trance. "Kuroo, you have to be careful…I…well, just don't kill anyone."

Kuroo blinked. "Why would I kill anyone?"

"I can't tell you the details, but as long as you don't kill anyone, it will be just fine. You will make a remarkable ally for your future out of the crisis. Don't stupidly throw away this chance." The Giglio Nero Primo spoke, her eyes still glazed over as she did before going back to its normal appearance when she ended her sentence. She offered him a smile. "Well then, I will be taking my leave now. I wish you all the luck the world can offer you for the next forty eight hours. And give Kyoya my love, dear."

Just as the raven opened his mouth to ask just what the fuck she meant by those words, Sepira disappeared with a bright flash. Something he had only witnessed her do a few times when she had to go to some other end of the world or when she was in a great hurry to get to him. He sighed.

Oh well, at least she won't be around for the next two days.

He would have some peace and privacy of his own.

 

* * *

 

 

"So, what do you think of him Kuroo?"

The raven who had been reading the latest issue of some manga he had lately taken an interest in, looked up from the pages to glance at the wild looking boy who sat on the desk next to his. "Pardon me, Tamaki, what were you talking about?"

A girl with an outrageous bow whose name he couldn't seem to remember at the moment giggled from her position by Tamaki's side. "Kuroo-kun, he's asking about your opinion on Sakaguchi Kentaro. Honestly, you should talk to your friends, instead of reading during lunch break."

_Friends._

They were a group of five, two girls and three boys, him included. These people made up his friends circle. One he had created because what good would come if he remained a lone-wolf? People needed connections to use to their advantage. So rather than call them his "friends", he regarded them as mere acquaintances.

"Kentaro?" He raised a delicate brow. "What of him?"

"He's such a brat, don't you think?" The other girl who looked like a doll commented as she flipped her hair back with a scoff. "A show-off, and moreover, he's always messing around with you."

Ah, right.

Did he ever mention that half of the population of his class _despised_ his self-proclaimed rival all because he was the only one who dared to stand against Kuroo? Everyone was such a _sweetheart._

"Yeah, why don't you go give him a piece of your mind? That way he'll stop bothering you, Kuroo!" Ichigo, the one with an obnoxious nature, exclaimed.

"Ichigo, are you an idiot? Kuroo does not have time to waste with losers like Kentaro." Tamaki rolled his eyes, raising his voice just as he'd spotted the said amber eyed boy entering the classroom without his friends to back him by his side. "Right?"

_This was all so childish and stupid._

But a part of him—

Kuroo smiled as his eyes met with startled wide amber orbs. "Of course."

—liked to see the way hope could be so easily crushed with just a few words. How the light immediately vanished from one's eyes as quickly as it formed in the first place, as simple as blowing off a candle's flame.

And there it was.

The look of disbelief that slowly morphed into hurt and then finally, anger.

The boy with wavy dark hair marched out of the room with fists clenched while slightly trembling.

Kuroo let out a soft sigh. Well, at least that would keep Kentaro from aggressively approaching him as usual for about a few months perhaps? As long as he stayed out of the Hibari's path, Kuroo didn't care what he had to do to have it that way, except for _killing_ him off of course.

Was this what Sepira meant? Not to kill anyone?

But it was very hard not to resist the urge to do just that.

Especially since Kentaro always recovered and bounced back to his normal routine of getting under the raven's nerves. He frowned slightly; apparently, the scare of "a kiss" during kindergarten wasn't enough to permanently scare the amber eyed boy off from ever coming anywhere near the raven head again.

He'd have to think of something much more… _traumatic._

"Is something bothering you, Kuroo-kun?"

He smiled. "Kufufu, I was just…thinking."

 

* * *

 

A certain wavy haired boy was trying to keep his distance, and struggling to remain as invisible as he could. He wasn't _stalking._ No. He was just trying to make sure the other didn't _notice_ him.

"Are you following me, Kentaro?"

And apparently, he was doing a great job at it too.

Kuroo had paused in his steps and turned around with a bright smile which was directed at the said boy who flinched and immediately decided that the ground was a much appeasing sight than meeting those stormy greyish-blue eyes.

"O-Of course not!" The boy quickly replied. "As you can see, I'm walking home as well."

"Oya, so it's a coincidence that we're walking down the same path?"

"Exactly." Kentaro huffed in annoyance.

His day had gone on well, right from the moment he woke up to his negotiation with the chauffer whom his parents sent on a daily basis to pick him up from school. Until _the_ lunch break of course. And it was all that idiotic Tamaki's fault!

Things had been going on smoothly.

He had had Kuroo _exactly_ where he wanted him to be and then _that_ happened.

Kentaro always found himself wondering why the raven hung out with _those_ kids who were obviously just sticking around Kuroo for his popularity. It was something as clear as the fact that the sun rises in the east. The raven would be intelligent enough to guess that right? He was Hibari Kuroo, afteral.

But even if he did notice, the raven still hadn't done anything about it.

So Kentaro had come up with something utterly brilliant plan, well, now that he _actually_ thought about it, he found himself rather stupid for even thinking his "plan" would work out.

Trying to befriend Kuroo was as difficult as trying to prove the fact that dragons existed.

The amber eyed boy shook his head to get rid of those thoughts.

It was over now. No chance of getting the raven to turn friendly with him. It would have been impossible; he knew it very well right from the start but sometimes, reality just needed to slap one in the face to make them accept the truth.

"And may I ask, since when did you start walking back home on your own?" The raven tilted his head to the side, his tone sounding almost… _curious?_

"Is it a crime to do so?" He snapped back immediately before internally groaning.

_Old habits die hard._

Well, he wasn't technically going to walk all the way back home…

"No. Of course not." Kuroo replied with another one of his charming smiles. "I presume your ride is parked a block away from the school to ensure you enjoy your apparent _'short walk back home'_ before escorting you back?"

Drat! The raven had just read his mind! Was he a psychic!?

He spluttered, unable to think or even come up with a reply except for a choked "So what?" which was, admittedly, not the most eloquent answer to snap back with.

Kuroo hummed to himself, his expression one that clearly said he was mocking the amber eyed boy. "Poor little prince, so pampered, it's a shame really that you can't even take on decisions for yourself."

"I'm still a child, so that's perfectly normal!"

"So, you mean to say you'll wait until you're eighteen to actually grow a spine and take on the role of being mature?" The raven simply smirked and watched in delight as Kentaro's face slowly turned into a foul expression. "Now that is why you'll always be seen as only a spoiled brat in the eyes of everyone around you, and _never_ as what you truly want them to see in you."

Kentaro decided he had enough of this.

He shoved past the raven head, ignoring how his heart painfully clenched when Kuroo's laughter rang loud and clear in his ears. It was true…but…

He tightened his fist over the strap of his bag and marched forward, hoping to get to his car as quickly as possible and escape from all of this.

_SCREECH!_

And then _it_ happened.

 

* * *

 

There was a sudden screech of tires.

Kuroo raised an eyebrow, pausing in his step to watch as four men jumped out of a black van and grabbed his self-proclaimed rival by the arm before hauling him into the vehicle—

_Oh._ This was a kidnapping.

He frowned. _"So…cliché._ "

And so, like every other sensible eight year old to have existed in the world…

He turned around, pretending not to see anything and prepared to just walk away. The universe had afteral, seemed to have responded to his lifelong plea and _finally_ came to a decision to rid the world of Sakaguchi Kentaro. So why would he interfere?

And plus, his kidnappers screamed yakuza. Another reason why he shouldn't go telling on them, and no he wasn't being a coward. Rather, just a smart person because nothing good came from getting involved with the yakuza— ignoring the fact that he had technically been born into a family of them.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him.

This he realised when he bumped into someone who happened to be right behind him. How he hadn't noticed was beyond him. He was ready to snap at the said person to _"watch where they were going"_ when his throat went dry. This guy seemed to emit a similar aura to the others who had just abducted his self-proclaimed nemesis.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

A meaty hand clamped down over his mouth from behind with a cloth which was sweetly scented, definitely chloroform, faster than he could say, _"Fuck off!"_

His last thought before blacking out was about how he would personally kill Kentaro for dragging him into this shit-storm when he regained consciousness.

And screw Sepira's _fucking_ advice!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your support! The kudos and comments, and also for reading this! :')


	10. Chapter 10

10\. You don't mess with a Hibari.

 

He woke up disoriented.

And with a really, _really_ dry throat.

Before realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.

_Kentaro._

_A van._

_Yakuza._

_Kidnapping._

And now, he was really, _really_ pissed.

"Ugh." Hibari Kuroo groaned as he tried to sit up.

There was a blindfold over his eyes, of the rough material which did not allow any light through its fabric, complete with his hands bound behind his back, the rope which was used seeming to dig into his delicate skin. Now that was definitely going to leave a bruising, much to his annoyance.

At least there was no duct tape involved.

He concentrated to get a better feel of his surroundings. The room seemed small, presumably with no windows too due to the musty air that was somewhat suffocating in a way. The floor was cold and judging by the warmth that seemed to radiate from his side, he was not alone—

"K-Kuroo?" A hesitant voice next to him spoke up as the owner of the voice shuffled closer to him.

"Kufufu, why, hello there, Kentaro." The raven spat as he turned his head to the right where his self-proclaimed rival appeared to be. "Isn't it such a pleasant afternoon?"

"I…" The other paused before choking out a sob.

_Oh god._ Kuroo rolled his eyes. This was one reason why he hated children, his baby brother being the sole exception, of course. The rest of the population of children were just snotty brats who would never be able to―

_Shit!_

Kuroo just remembered where he had been heading over to before he was pulled into this whole kidnapping mess since he had been unfortunate enough to _witness_ it.

Kyoya's kindergarten was on the way back home from school and he had made a promise to his baby brother to pick him up after classes today since the four year old had kicked up such a racket on being told he had to go back to kindergarten after his case of hives subsided. The older of the two had to come up with some sort of compromise because of the _look_ his mother had shot him.

The _"you're gonna work this out or else…"_ one.

She was one terrifying woman.

And his unintended detour was going to cost him time.

A _lot_ of time.

Okay.

Now he was _fucking_ pissed.

"Don't you dare start crying or I promise you, you'll be regretting it." He gave a low growl as his fingers ran nimbly across the knot of the rope that bound his wrists together.

It seemed to be quite a simple knot which he would have had no problem untying if not for the sudden pain that shot up his right wrist. Did he sprain it or injure it somehow? Or did his captors have something to do with it while they were tying him up?

If that was possibly the reason, he made a mental note to snap all their wrists when he managed to get himself out of these restraints.

_Or perhaps wrench out their hands from the sockets?_

"S-Sorry." Kentaro hiccupped, his voice shaky from crying ever since he woke.

"Is this a usual occurrence?" Kuroo casually asked as he summoned a knife out of the indigo flames that danced round the palm of his right hand.

"I-It's happened on-…once."

"Don't stutter." The raven snapped as he cut off the ropes with one swift swipe of his knife. "It's annoying."

With his hands now free, he ripped the blindfold off his eyes and threw it off to some corner before turning his attention over to his self-proclaimed rival. Ugh. The boy was such a sight with tear tracks trailing down his cheeks and the snot that he was failing terribly to sniff back―

Kuroo shook his head.

Enough of observing such… _details._

He had a baby brother he needed to pick.

As much as he wanted to leave the boy here and make his grand escape, the consequences that would follow were something he clearly did not want to handle. And all those questions that would come along with it. Nope. Definitely not worth the headache.

The raven head reached out and cut off the boy's restrains in a swift motion, ignoring the way Kentaro exclaimed in surprise as he harshly tugged off the boy's blindfold too. Widened amber eyes met his, filled with _extreme_ shock.

It was almost insulting.

"H-How?"

"I'm _Hibari Kuroo_." He replied as though it answered everything.

Kentaro just nodded, still dumbfounded by the happenings.

The raven head meanwhile was already up on his feet and turning the knob of the door in the crammed room where the two of them had been held in. He snorted on discovering it unlocked. Of course, who were they to expect that two eight-year old children would have even been able to escape? They were _just_ eight-year olds after all.

"Wha-!?" A bulky man exclaimed in surprise.

Well, at least they had some common sense to have someone on guard outside their door.

The boy with ivory skin smiled as his right eye immediately flashed red with the kanji of the number "four" on it, to the guard's surprise. Suddenly there seemed to be some sort of indigo flame that surrounded the raven's eye but before the poor man could even react to the monstrosity infront of him, he was knocked off his feet and sent flying into the wall by a mere punch to the solar plexus which had him writhing in excruciating pain before he passed out.

The raven stared at his fist appreciatively.

Mixing martial arts with his illusions proved to be very handy.

He would have to give his _thanks_ to his Uncle _dearest_ when the man came the next month for their lessons.

Kuroo turned around to Kentaro _(who was busy gaping like some stupid fish out of the water)_ and pointed a finger to the fallen man. "Search him; he should have a cell phone at least. Use it to call your parents or anyone who can get you out of this place, and be quick about it."

Thankfully, the amber eyed boy managed to sideline the urge to get all the answers to the questions which were currently wrecking havoc inside his brain and got to his knees to start searching the man's pockets.

He looked up when he heard the sound of Kuroo's footsteps heading away. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Hibari Kuroo turned around with a raised brow, the look on his face saying that his question was very stupid because the answer was glaringly obvious.

"I need to pick my baby brother, of course. Where else would I be going?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

They were simply following orders and waiting for their _oyabun's_ return.

_"Guard the kids."_

The two that had been kidnapped were _just_ eight-year olds.

Honestly, what did their _oyabun_ think the children were capable of? But they nodded and did just that. They thought maybe the security was to do with who one of the kids was. The only son of Sakaguchi Mitsuhide, the CEO of the Sakaguchi Co. Ltd., a private machinery company that even saw to the production of weaponry; a reason why they had kidnapped the man's child in the first place.

The other kid?

Just some _extra_ who had been unfortunate enough to witness the kidnapping.

The boss said he would set the two free once the negotiation with the CEO went well. But if things did not go according to plan then they would "kill the spare". To show Mr. Sakaguchi how they were very capable of harming his son if the man did not agree with their terms and conditions for supply of weaponry.

So they had been relaxing in the front room of their base, laughing and cursing over a game of cards because who would take guarding two kids seriously. What could they even do? They were tied up and thrown into a room in the back, surely, that was enough to keep them there.

It was a blissful afternoon.

Until the _dragon_ burst through the wall.

It was too bad they had underestimated the _spare._

 

__

* * *

 

 

 

Kuroo dusted his hands as he walked away from the building he had been held captive in not a while ago.

He had at least wasted an hour.

And that meant he didn't have time to think of the consequences of his next action.

Which was why he reached his baby brother's kindergarten in record time and on a white horse, no less.

A knight in shining armour, much?

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The police had arrived heavily armed where the son of Sakaguchi Mitsuhide was currently being held in after they had managed to track the phone number through which the boy had contacted his father from. They considered the boy very lucky since he had been able to actually contact his parents at what seemed to be his own will. Honestly, just how careless were his kidnappers?

After all, this was the yakuza they were dealing with.

The notorious Otogibanashi that had quite a handful of the Kyoto's underhand dealings in their control, to be exact. They were responsible for multiple drug rackets, had a long list of illegal activities under their belt and were as slippery as eels.

So, the police had come prepared for a rather violent confrontation.

What they had not been expecting, though, was to find the very boy who had been kidnapped, sitting on the front porch of the house (which was said to be the main base of the Otogibanashi located on the outskirts of the city), clutching on to a cell phone as though his life depended on it and looking as pale as the moon.

"Kentaro!"

"Father!"

And while the father and son duo met with a rather teary reunion, the police took to barging into the house.

…and were met with another surprised.

Because this was definitely not what they had been expecting to find.

There were men thrown about like rag dolls everywhere.

And the walls seemed to be whitewashed with blood.

The body count was almost thirty. And every single one of them had been knocked out with their faces twisted in silent screams; the scene seeming like something right out of an M-rated movie that involved gore. Later, they would also come to find out a peculiar thing, that all the victims seemed to have had suffered from broken wrists too.

And one even had his hands fully detached from its limbs.

But none of them were dead. Just barely breathing and in great need of medical attention before they could serve their interrogation as well as jail time.

The local hospital was going to have a field day for sure.

Officer Mikado scratched the back of his head in confusion as he exited the house. He had been given the task to question the kidnapped boy who was currently sipping on hot chocolate as he sat on the back of an ambulance.

He smiled as he approached him. "Hey, kid. You doing okay now?"

The boy nodded hesitantly.

"Do you think you can answer some questions for me, yeah?"

"Okay."

"Alright, so you were kidnapped on your way back from school?"

"I-I was kidnapped along with another boy who had witnessed the whole scene. He's in the same class as me in school. We were walking together when it…w-when it happened."

Officer Mikado raised an eyebrow. Well, this was news. No one had mentioned that there was another victim to the kidnapping. "And where is this boy now?"

"He left." Kentaro said after he took another long sip of his hot chocolate.

"He _left_?" The officer repeated.

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"He said he had to pick his baby brother."

…

" _Excuse me_?"

Kentaro made a face. "Officer, I'm not lying."

The man cleared his throat. "Right. Sorry. So, who was it that rescued the two of you? Did you happen to see their face?"

"It was Kuroo." The boy replied with an air of nonchalance.

"Kuroo _who_?" Officer Mikado frowned.

"You know, the boy who was with me. The one with whom I said I had been kidnapped along with?"

"Sorry… _what_?" The man wore a look of disbelief. "You're saying that _he_ did _that_?"

"Did what?" Kentaro blinked. "He told me to go out through the window instead of the front door if I wanted my lunch to remain where it was. Did he do something terrible?"

Officer Mikado shut the book he held in his hand with a sigh.

He decided not to answer that.

And he also decided that he would have to re-question the boy later since the answers he was receiving right now sounded very farfetched.

Yes, kids had a lot of imagination but really, they should refrain from using them while answering questions. Maybe this boy had watched too much television hence the very _absurd_ answers. Hah! An eight year old doing all that!?

Or maybe it was due to the shock of being suddenly kidnapped.

"So, what did you say this kid's name was again?" He paused to ask his last question as he turned around to head back into the house and report to his superior.

"Hibari Kuroo."

And then somehow, everything made sense with just that _cursed_ family name.

He should have known.

His superior stared at him with a raised eyebrow when he trotted over to him. "Got anything?"

Officer Mikado had trouble forming a proper sentence. "The perpetrator for all of this? An eight year old, sir."

"Are you high?" His superior laughed.

"His name is _Hibari_ Kuroo, sir." He replied with much emphasis on the family name.

That was enough to wipe the laugh off his superior's face, replacing it with a pained one. "God, _them_ again?"

"It seems so, sir."

There was a moment of silence as the two just mused over it all.

"Alright, we're doing the usual. Just leave off till where we can extend our authority in this case, and no digging into anything related to the Hibari, at _all._ Inform the others too."

"Yes, sir."

When it came to the yakuza, the Otogibanashi who had a noteworthy and considerable influence in Kyoto did not even hold a candle when compared to the _Hibari._ Some said even just the mention of that very name would summon misfortune among those who were bold enough to say it.

The Hibari were probably the only criminal syndicate in the country which the law wisely kept off.

Some said maybe it was because they made it very easy for the law to make arrests of notorious criminals. The Hibari always sent their rivals (mostly those people who had escaped the police custody they deserved) straight to the police's doorstep with a lot of broken bones, not due to the rivalry but usually because those unfortunate fools had overstepped their lines and were stupid enough to bother one of those solitary ivory pale skinned and raven haired beings.

They always seemed to work alone or sometimes in pairs but never in groups.

The law even housed a few Hibari themselves too. And they were frightful people indeed with outstanding records of arresting infamous criminals in the country.

The Hibari were also rumoured to have power that stretched overseas, seeing that Japan was just their teething toy, gifted to them several centuries ago when they came into existence.

They were far from human.

No, they were monsters.

"Such a terrifying kid, to have done all this..." The superior sighed as he massaged his temples.

"I do hope this is the last little demon they have brought into this world." Officer Mikado shivered.

He seriously hoped so.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Kuroo never felt more relieved when he saw the mop of familiar raven hair.

He sighed as he walked through the front gate of the kindergarten after dismounting the horse. His baby brother stubbornly stood by the door with the remains of his tattered yellow hat on the floor next to his feet, a sign that he had vented out his anger and impatience on a part of his uniform.

They would need to get a new one for him.

A teacher who had been _trying_ to talk to the four year old considerably brightened up on seeing Kuroo.

"Ah, Kuroo!" The sensei who had also been his teacher once upon a time when he attended this very kindergarten, exclaimed in relief. "You're finally here."

"I apologise for my delay, sensei. I was…held up." He said as he went over to the two.

"At least you're here now; your brother wouldn't budge even when we tried to get your aunt pick to get him up."

"Oh, really?" Kuroo blinked. Kyoya had still been waiting for him this whole time? Now, that was surprising. "Ah, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I will take him home. Thank you for waiting with him, sensei."

"It's a part of my duty." She beamed before heading in to fetch her belongings after bidding them goodbye.

"Hello, Kyo-chan."

On a closer inspection of his four-year old brother, the boy seemed to be…pouting.

With a glare.

And while it was supposed to look intimidating, Kuroo felt like his heart had just been pierced right through. He huffed and pushed the feeling down. Who knew _the_ Hibari Kyoya could be so adorable while sulking?

"You know, I actually have a very valid reason why I'm― "

He was cut off when the little raven head promptly turned his head to the other side.

"Are you giving me the silent treatment now!?"

"…"

Kuroo sighed as he walked over to place himself right infront of Kyoya's sight. He crossed his arms across his chest and waited. Knowing the boy, it would take him only a few more moments before he spoke. And this method always worked best whenever the whole "silent treatment" thing happened between the two.

After a whole minute ticked by, Kyoya finally turned to him with narrowed eyes and that pout which was still present.

"Kuroo…bad."

The stormy bluish-grey eyed boy blinked. "Huh?"

"You are so bad. Kuroo said he come to get Kyo-chan and Kuroo come late." Kyoya growled. It was almost adorable how the little raven head's Japanese became broken like every other four-year old whenever he got upset. "I waiting, and thought you no come but you pwo-mised and―…you bad."

The older Hibari was still wide eyed and taking in all that his baby brother had just spouted out when the boy lifted his hands up.

"Take me home. Up."

Kuroo laughed.

"Yes, let's go back _home._ "

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The Hibari household had a visitor later that evening.

Hibari Kuroo had been called to the common room where the guests were waiting for him to grace their presence. And he had been caught off guard when he _did_ actually grace them with his presence.

After all, he hadn't been expecting the Sakaguchi duo, father and son.

"Ah, Kuroo, I didn't know you had such an eventful time today." His mother greeted him with a smile the moment he stepped into the room.

It appeared that she had been entertaining the two while the raven head had been taking his sweet time. He had been in a deep slumber and had not at all appreciated that he had been woken up.

"Kentaro." Kuroo greeted the amber eyed boy with mild confusion. "What brings you here?"

"You must be the Hibari Kuroo then." His self-proclaimed rival's father said as he stood and approached the raven. "I have heard so much about you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Sakaguchi-san." Kuroo replied with a polite bow and a warm smile.

Kentaro who had been shifting uncomfortably in his seat ever since the raven walked in comically gaped at Kuroo's gracefulness. Not that the raven was never graceful in the first place, it was just how he had treated his father― with politeness, something Kentaro had thought no men of the Sakaguchi household would witness from _the_ Hibari Kuroo.

"I am very grateful for what you have done today." The man beamed with genuine appreciation. "If not for you, I do not even want to think what would have happened…"

"It's nothing, sir. I just did what I thought was right. Kufufu, besides, those men should keep off from kidnapping poor innocent little boys. Surely, they should have things better to do than that." Kuroo flashed his best smile. "I'm very glad that Kentaro is safe too."

The amber eyed boy who had been trying not to freak out at the smooth conversation his father had been having with the raven head almost fell off his seat on hearing Kuroo's last line. "W-Wha-?"

"Such a great friend you have made, Kentaro." His father sent him an appreciative nod before turning his attention back to Kuroo. "Well, as my thanks, I have brought a few little things to show my appreciation."

"Oh?" Kuroo quirked a brow.

Sakaguchi Mistuhide clapped his hands and suddenly, there were men entering the room, armed with wrapped boxes of various sizes. They neatly stacked it up in a corner before leaving the room just as suddenly as they had appeared. The man smiled. "Well, it's not too much…"

Kuroo blinked at the mountain of gifts. Were all these really meant for _him_!?

"Kentaro mentioned that you are pretty fond of chocolate, so I picked the best from Kyoto's chocolate manufacturing companies. Though I should have you know I placed orders for shipment of chocolate from the finest companies around the world, I'm afraid that they would arrive late though. Give or take in a day or two's time."

"Really now, I think this will be enough for my son!" Hibari Izanami hurriedly replied when she found Kuroo in a state of being unable to talk. And of course, he had every right to be because nobody had ever gotten him so much chocolate before!

"I am forever grateful to him." The man shook his head before reaching into his pocket and producing his business card. He handed it to Kuroo who took it with wide eyes, apparently still caught in a state of disbelief. "Here, please contact me whenever you are in need of my assistance. I will not hesitate to provide whatever you need."

The raven head snapped out of it immediately. It would not do well if he went so out of character by simply being presented loads of chocolate! No one, not one soul should know of his terrible weakness. After all, who knew what they would do to him with just chocolate!? It was worthy enough to blackmail him!

"Thank you so much, Sakaguchi-san." Kuroo bowed again as he pocketed the card before his mother came up with the brilliant idea of taking it away. "Like my mother said, this is too much for me. More than enough…I am _very_ thankful."

"It's no problem." Sakaguchi Mitsuhide laughed as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "I do hope you continue watching over my son, Hibari Kuroo." Then he turned to face Izanami. "It was very pleasant to get to know you too. You have a wonderful son."

"Yours is no less." She smiled in return.

"Well, I will not stay too long; I have a meeting to attend in an hour. We will be taking our leave now."

As they bid their farewells, Hibari Kyoya had dropped by the common room, wondering what all the fuss was about. He took a good look at the two strangers before trotting over to his brother, tugging on his older brother's sleeve to ask what was going on. And why there were so many gifts in the corner. Was it someone's birthday?

"Kuroo?"

"Shh, not now Kyo-chan." His brother dismissed him before going on to talk to one of the herbivores who seemed to be around the same age as his brother.

The little raven head blinked. Well, wasn't this strange? Why was his brother ignoring him now? What did he do? Did he― or was it because of _that_ herbivore?

Baby Kyoya narrowed his eyes as he watched the other boy while following close behind his brother as the group moved to the courtyard.

"I-I would also like to thank you, Kuroo."

"It's nothing, really. I'm the one who should be grateful for all _that_ chocolate."

The other boy seemed to be going pink.

But why?

Why did people turn pink? He decided he should ask Aunt Alison about it. She would definitely know something. She always did. Or how about asking Kuroo instead? Yes-!

No.

His brother was ignoring him.

Because of _that_ boy.

"Oh, is this your baby brother?" The amber eyed boy asked when he finally noticed the little raven head.

"Yes. He is." Kuroo smirked as he gently nudged Kyoya in front of him. "Go on, Kyo-chan. Introduce yourself."

"My name is Hibari Kyoya." He obediently did as he was told and recited the lines that Kuroo had drilled into him whenever he was to introduce himself to someone. "I am four years old. It is a pleasure making acquaintance with you. What is your name?"

"Woah. He speaks really well for a four year old!" Kentaro gasped.

"He's _my_ brother for a reason." Kuroo scoffed.

"Hey, there. My name is Sakaguchi Kentaro, and I am your brother's friend." The herbivore grinned as he reached out and gently ruffled his hair.

How dare he!?

Only Kuroo did that to him!

" _Friend_?" Baby Kyoya repeated with a look of suspicion.

"Y-Yes, friend." The herbivore began to fidget again.

Oh look, he was turning pink too.

"Come along, Kentaro. You can always talk with your friend tomorrow!"

The herbivore looked relieved as he pulled away, waved them goodbye and began to jog over to his father.

But Kentaro stopped and turned around in confusion because the younger of the two Hibari siblings had tugged on the hem of his sweater, abruptly causing him to pause in his steps.

Kentaro couldn't help but think that Kuroo's brother was very adorable. Did he stop him to give his own personal goodbye? Now―

"Yes?"

"I don't like you." The kid fixed his doe steel grey eyes on him as he slightly tilted his head. "Careful, I will _bite_ you to _death_."

―that was not what he thought Kuroo's brother was going to say!

…and that was when Sakaguchi Kentaro came to a conclusion that something was _seriously_ wrong with the Hibari family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo's new move is an infusion of martial arts with his illusions in which he manipulates the nervous system of his opponents via his illusions to make them feel amplified pain. Just a mere punch or kick and with the help of his illusions, the pain is increased tenfold so it ain't just a simple punch or kick!
> 
> And Otogibanashi means "fairytale" in Japanese xD yes, I had nothing better to name them :'D lol
> 
> Do ask questions if you didn't understand, I'll be glad to answer!
> 
> And thank you all for your support and reviews, they're really motivating :')
> 
> Also, thank you for giving this a try!


	11. Special Chapter — First Edition!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first special chapter regarding how Kyoya and Kuroo's bond as brothers grew stronger :'3  
> That "certain" incident!

11\. Special Chapter – First Edition!

 

If anyone asked, (Kuroo would very often find himself saying) it all began with an apple.

On a bright Sunday afternoon when the two brothers were lazing about on a picnic carpet that had been spread out in the garden― to be precise.

Kuroo was seven then.

This impromptu picnic was another one of their mother's attempts to improve the relationship between Kyoya and Kuroo.

It had already been two hours since the two had been lying next to each other (because mother specifically told them not to enter until they made up for the fight they had earlier, but neither of them were willing to apologise first), the older one reading a book while the other colouring something that looked quite horrific for a butterfly― according to Kuroo, of course.

"Well, why don't you stop being stubborn and just say you're sorry?" _Tante_ sighed as she walked up to the duo with a basket of food in her hand. "Especially _you,_ Kuroo, you're supposed to be the older one here."

"What have you brought for us?" Kuroo simply rolled his eyes as he ignored her words.

"Apples?" Baby Kyoya asked as he perked up, abandoning his _masterpiece_ to trot over to their tante.

"Yes, Kyoya." The woman smiled as she picked the only two apples from the ensemble of fruits and handed it to the little raven head. "Apples just for you."

The little demon beamed as he happily took the apples, one in each hand and stared at them with satisfaction. He looked back up at her and gave a small nod in thanks before going back to his position next to his older brother.

Kuroo scoffed at the whole exchange. " _Really_? He gets apples and I, grapes?"

"You should know its Kyoya's favourite fruit." She sighed. "And he's also younger than you, so yes, he deserves to have them."

"But I want an apple too!" Kuroo stubbornly exclaimed with a glare.

It didn't help that he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning which was why he was quite irritable and touchy at the moment.

"Kuroo―"

"Here."

The older Hibari's stormy greyish-blue eyes widened when an apple was suddenly shoved infront of his face by a tiny hand that lightly clutched onto it. His _tante_ just stared on in amusement.

"Kuroo wants apple, no?" Baby Kyoya innocently blinked when his brother gave him a strange look. "I have two, Kuroo take one."

"I-I…thank you." The older of the two replied in astonishment as he took the apple from his brother's hand.

"Welcome." Baby Kyoya shrugged before going back to his colouring as though nothing really shocking just happened.

But oh well, he was just a little child. He wouldn't have noticed anything amiss, like how his small act of kindness (not that he had even realised it in the first place anyway) had totally thrown his brother off guard and momentarily rendered the said boy speechless for the next few hours.

So really, it all started with an apple.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Then there were many other incidents that came along their way, small but still with a lot of impact on the older Hibari's attitude towards little Kyoya. Of course, they still fought and quarrelled, but those episodes were slowly being reduced as the days went by.

Alison called it a miracle and would often find herself closely watching the two under her care for those shared little moments of love for each other.

_Like the time when Kyoya got upset over having water spilled on his drawing of a dinosaur…_

The little raven head was fuming as he held the soiled paper in his hands. His aunt had told him not to draw while eating but he just couldn't let go of his new crayons to eat! What an herbivorous thing to do!

And he was drawing a very _powerful_ carnivore too!

One that would devour all herbivores, those menaces who didn't know their place.

_Obviously._

"Now, now Kyoya, I did warn you not to bring your notebook to the dining table." His aunt sighed as she cautiously approached him because an angry Kyoya was a very unpredictable Kyoya.

Last time he had lost his temper (without Kuroo actually having anything to do with it, yes, how _shocking_ ) they had lost an expensive vase from a bygone era and had to repair one of the sliding doors. Really, he was _very_ destructive even for a three year old. But it was probably because of the Hibari blood flowing through his veins.

They were rumoured to be very ill-tempered people in a way.

Well, Kuroo being the sole exception (and perhaps even a certain uncle of theirs) since the boy rather preferred to be annoying, a total brat and found it his duty to incur other people's wraths rather than show his true destructive side.

(Yes, again. Alison held firm to the belief that the boy also had that side of himself too apart from all the other useless tantrums.)

"Kufufu, honestly, you're angry because your drawing got soaked?" Kuroo who had been calmly eating his meal finally spoke up in an amused tone.

The little raven snapped his head to the side to face his brother with his best glare.

"Kuroo, don't start no―"

"It's a T-Rex!" Baby Kyoya half-yelled. "Strong!"

"I don't see your point here, Kyo―" Kuroo paused as a thoughtful expression dawned upon his face. "But raptors are fiercer, like the Utahraptor, which for your information is the largest known raptor, noted especially for its sheer killing ability."

The little raven head who had been so close to tearing the book in his hands apart immediately had his anger poof into nonexistence, it being replaced with curiosity. He tilted his head to the side. "Utahrar?"

"Utahraptor." Kuroo corrected before he motioned for his younger brother to come closer. "Here, let me show you how they look like."

Baby Kyoya blinked. "You draw for me?"

"Of course, are you underestimating _my_ art skills?" The older seemed offended at the look of doubt painted across his younger brother's face.

"No." He immediately shook his head before dashing out of the dining room while saying something about bringing another notebook.

Alison _just_ stared.

"You don't have to look at me like I'm a dinosaur myself, _tante_." Kuroo rolled his eyes. "It's insulting."

"I'm just astonished that you would _actually_ do something for your little brother."

"You do want him happy and not throwing another fit, don't you? So don't make me change my mind when I'm being _nice_."

Alison simply laughed in surprise. "Just finish off your meal first."

Well, the two boys were very peculiar in their own unique ways.

_And later that night after she had tucked the boys to bed…_

Alison DeLauro found herself gaping at the work of art etched on the notebook which Kuroo had worked on for barely even an hour just for his younger brother.

"Good god…"

The drawing looked more like a printed picture rather than something that a seven year old would have been able to draw! The details were so flawlessly worked upon! No, _every_ single line was a stroke of perfection!

No wonder little Kyoya had been so satisfied and cheerful for the rest of the day.

Just _what_ on earth was Hibari Kuroo!?

 

 

* * *

 

 

Then, it was on that one particular day ―when grandfather had been rushed to the emergency room and the parents of the boys had to leave immediately on hearing the news― that everything changed in a way Kuroo wouldn't have expected it to.

Even _tante_ had to leave to help their mother as she tended to her father-in-law.

So they were both to be home alone.

Well, if one didn't bother to take into account the security and household staff who were as scarce as ghosts but never failed to make an immediate appearance whenever required.

Thankfully enough, the next day was a Saturday and that meant no classes for either of the two.

"Take good care of Kyoya, alright?" Hibari Izanami said as she planted a kiss on both her sons' heads before making her way over to the car that was waiting to take her and tante to the private hospital where grandfather had been admitted, located an hour's journey away.

"Just be good for a day, it won't kill either of you." Alison said before following after her cousin.

Kuroo had met his grandfather just once, an intimidating man who wasn't so much of cheers and smiles. Well, it wasn't like any of the Hibari (excluding himself of course and perhaps his uncle too) fitted that description anyway, but even so, his father did smile _occasionally_!

Couldn't his grandfather do that too?

(He had heard a nasty rumour during that gathering when he had first met the _kumicho,_ one that said the man did just that in the face of his enemies despair and screams.

Well, why wasn't he even surprised?)

Their first meeting did not even consist of an exchange of words.

Not like Kuroo knew how grandparents were supposed to act because he never had one in his previous life anyway (not that he remembered)― but weren't they supposed to dote over their grandchildren or something?

Or was this just with the Hibari?

The man had given a glance at Kyoya and himself, beckoned them forward and then after a long look of assessment (by then, Kyoya was already restless and shooting glares around the room while Kuroo simply stared right back into his grandfather's eyes as though in a challenge) apparently approved of them because he smirked, patted their heads and sent them off on their own way.

And that was the only time they ever interacted with their grandfather.

The two brothers just stood awkwardly at the doorway until the sleek black car disappeared from sight. Then, Kuroo turned around with a sigh. "Come, Kyo-chan. We have to go back in now, lest someone decides to kidnap you and I get blamed."

"Can I colour?"

"Dinosaurs again?"

"No." The little raven shook his head. "Utah-rnivores."

Kuroo scrunched his nose in exasperation. " _Really_?"

Oh well, _children._

Dinner rolled by rather quickly and the two ate in silence accompanied with the occasional sounds of the scraping of silverware.

After they were done, it was decided upon that the both of them would retire to bed earlier than usual.

Kuroo tucked Kyoya into bed, much to his reluctance, and made sure the little demon would not wake up just to go colour his so called _"Utah-rnivores"_ by putting his crayons and notebook in the highest compartment of the bookshelf in the younger's room before retreating back to his own room with a stern warning.

He just hoped that the boy would listen.

Though a part of him knew he wouldn't.

"That was very sweet of you." His _favourite_ resident ghost commented once he stepped into his room.

"Of course, I'm a very nice person and the best brother he could ever ask for." Kuroo shrugged as he trudged over to the bathroom. " _Obviously._ "

"And you're very shameless too." Sepira said with a nod that was directed more to herself than him.

"Why, _thank_ you for the wonderful insight."

"Pleasure." She hummed before drifting over to the window. "It's such a clear sky tonight, expect lots of sunshine tomorrow."

"Sepira, I can see that you're _attempting_ but failing rather miserably at trying to keep a conversation right now, so please, just stop before you end up embarrassing yourself, because I don't feel like indulging in one right now. I'm tired."

Cue the deep sigh.

He didn't even know why she even _tried_ sometimes.

"Alright, goodnight Kuroo. Have a pleasant sleep!"

And a pleasant sleep he _did_ have…until he was woken up purely by instinct ―moving to sit up in a flash, palm glowing with his flames― when his bedroom door slowly creaked open.

Thank goodness he had not summoned his trident and thrown it at the intruder. His mother would have gutted him with _just_ a chopstick if he had harmed, let alone even displaced a single hair on Hibari Kyoya by "accident".

He huffed before plopping back to his bed.

"Kuroo?"

The said raven head pulled the blankets over his head. He did _not_ want to deal with the little demon right now. Especially not after he had woken from a dream about world domi― a _good_ dream.

"Kuroo?"

"Go away Kyo-chan, I'm trying to sleep here."

The other remained silent and firmly rooted by the door.

"Go to bed." Kuroo groaned, stretching the vowels in his words as he buried his face into his pillow.

"…no."

"Go."

"No."

"I said go!"

"No!"

"Stop being so stubborn and go! It's way past your bedtime and if you were up drawing your _fucking_ Utah-rnivores and can't sleep because of that, I swear I'm gonna―"

A sniff from the little raven head abruptly cut off Kuroo from his rant.

The older of the two paused and frowned. "Are you crying?"

"..no."

Kuroo rolled his eyes as he brought himself to sit up again. Seriously, Kyoya had reached his rebellious age way too soon. The moonlight that streamed in through the window illuminated the room enough for Kuroo to get a better look at the little demon.

And he was right.

There it was, big fat tears rolling down Kyoya's chubby cheeks.

"You _are_ crying." All of a sudden, he felt uncomfortable. He wasn't used to tears or comforting anyone, as a matter of fact. "Why are you crying?"

"…nothing…"

"Is it because mother isn't here?"

The boy remained silent.

And the atmosphere only grew more awkward.

"Fine. Fine!" Kuroo exclaimed in frustration as he flung his hands to the air in exasperation, breaking the silence. "Don't tell me―…"

He cut himself off this time when he realised the little demon was watching him with an unusual expression. One that was just too full of emotions, as though he was on the verge of exploding with every single one of them. Kuroo sighed.

He was going to regret this.

The stormy greyish-blue eyed boy scooted over to the side and patted the empty spot next to him on his bed. "Only this one time, here, you can come and sleep next to― oof!"

Before Kuroo could even complete his sentence, he was knocked to his back, courtesy of his little brother who had barrelled right at him in a very uncharacteristic manner. He _actually_ had to double check to see if _this_ really was the Hibari Kyoya he had known his previous life.

Huh.

Who knew the _Demon of Namimori_ did cuddles.

Or whatever this was.

The younger buried his face into his brother's chest while hugging the breath out of him. Kuroo managed to free his hands before pulling the blanket over the both of them and then awkwardly resting his arms over little Kyoya.

"Not too tight." Kuroo complained but didn't do anything to loosen his brother's grip on him because…it was warm.

_And nice._

_Shut up conscience!_

Silence befell upon them again, though this time it didn't seem to be so awkward as before. More of a nice and calming silence, rather.

"Goodnight Kyo-chan." He softly murmured as he shut his eyes.

"Goodnight," came the muffled reply followed by a pause and then a, "Kurooisthebest."

Kuroo felt warmth slowly envelop his heart on hearing the words spill out of his brother's lips with outmost sincerity. He tightened his grip albeit a little as he exhaled the air he didn't know he had been holding in.

_What had he ever done to receive such kind words?_

"Thank you."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"This is my dreamscape." Kuroo stated aloud, just to be sure.

"Yes." Sepira who stood by his side under the shade of the willow tree nodded with enthusiasm.

" _This_ is my dreamscape." He repeated again, his eyebrow twitching. "…so what is _he_ doing here?"

The two of them stared at the said "he" who appeared to be happily chasing after what looked like morbid children drawings come to live.

_The_ Hibari Kyoya chasing after his Utah-rnivores with a rather bloodthirsty expression for a three year old, to be exact.

Sepira shrugged. "I presume it's because of the overwhelming emotions the two of you shared just before falling asleep."

Kuroo whipped his head to the side with a sneer. " _Me_? _Overwhelming emotions_?"

She sighed. "You know, you should learn how to be more honest with yourself, Kuroo."

"I _am_ being perfectly honest with myself." He replied before shifting his gaze back to his little brother with a look of suspicion, as though preparing himself for some pandemonium that only the little demon could bring forth. "And I want him out of _my_ dreamscape this instant."

"And just a moment ago, you were being all cuddly and friendly!" She grabbed him by the arm, stopping his advance. "Let him be, Kuroo. He came to you because of a bad dream, don't chase him out from where he feels safe and secure now."

"It's not my fault he had a bad dream!"

"You're being unreasonable." Sepira chided him. "And so is your rivalry! Honestly, you were just teenagers when you made rivals out of yourselves and after all these years, this enmity has been going on! Even after your death and rebirth!"

Kuroo paused and turned back to face her with a raised eyebrow. "Is that what you think?"

"What do you mean, is that what I think? Of course not, it's what everybody does!"

" _Everybody_?"

"Is there another reason behind your rivalry then?" She huffed.

Kuroo scoffed. "As _immature_ as you like to think I am, Sepira, that rivalry had long been dissolved."

She blinked. She knew things, alright, being a shaman and all and also being in charge of him so she technically knew about his past life― but not all things from it. And this particular statement came as quite a surprise to her. "…it _did_?"

He gave a rather dramatic sigh as he threw his hands up in the air, shifting his dreamscape at the same moment to darken and shoot a spotlight down at him. "We were far from rivals; this rivalry phase ―which _did_ exist at just a point of time― died out when we turned adults." He paused for a moment of thought. "Of course, we still had friendly spars from time to time, though the Decimo was not very fond of it, seeing how it usually resulted in outstanding bills, courtesy of our resident demon, _obviously._

"You see, we were, what do you call that? Ah, more of brothers. Yes, the irony of it all, to be actually reborn as his brother in this universe, what fate," he spat out with a frown before softly adding as though in an afterthought, "it's such an awful thing, almost like a punishment meant for… _me_."

Sepira found herself speechless, unable to really comprehend all that he had just said. "Oh."

"Yes, _oh_."

He rolled his eyes before kicking at the grass as he turned his back to her, the atmosphere shifting over to a heavier one; it was stifling with emotions that seemed to have been locked away for such a long time. " _Oh'_ indeed. Everyone was just as surprised as you were because the two of us grew with a bond, one that seemed unbreakable to others, one that even the term _'best friends'_ could not simply supply to describe how…close we had grown. So they called us brothers. _Brothers._

"Such irony, I believe fate has cursed me to this because of what I had done in the end." Kuroo gave a mirthless laugh which so hollow and _wrong_ to Sepira's ears. His eyes darkened with hatred. "What _he_ made me do in the end. He could have…lived. I know he could have―"

"Ah! Kuroo!"

The said little raven head chose that climactic moment to run over to them, practically radiating happiness as he did. Sepira wondered if she would have to intervene and perhaps steer the younger away because she had never seen Kuroo in this manner. With so much hate, she almost regretted on having to bring the whole topic up in the first place.

Before he could move out of the way, however, his little brother literally pounced on him with a hug. But maybe he didn't avoid it on purpose; it looked like he more or less wanted― _needed_ the hug, seeing how his arms automatically moved to wrap around Kyoya. Kuroo pulled him a closer, tucking his little brother's head underneath his chin, the look of contempt from earlier replaced with something akin to sadness and what looked like fondness too.

Kuroo murmured with eyes shut, soft but loud enough for Sepira to hear. "And look at what he does to me now, after what I did, it almost feels like forgiveness for a sin that weighed me down so heavy. I don't know how I'm supposed to hate him, this innocent little child so blissfully unaware of it all… _why_?"

He took a shaky breath.

"...I…am sorry."

Sepira just smiled at the sight and slowly turned away, deciding that she would have to give the two some space of their own.

She even decided to keep to herself how she saw for the first time, a lone tear that rolled down her ward's cheek; and also about the fact that she knew that the bad dream Kyoya had had was a dream where Kuroo never existed to begin with, the dream of the other parallel world his brother had been reborn from, where he never had a brother to begin with.

And also how, much later in that very night's dream, Kuroo found himself in his old body, infront of the man he had bonded with as a brother in a lifetime long ago.

Hibari Kyoya offered him a small smile.

" _It_   _was never your fault._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet y'all thought Kuroo hated Kyoya all this time because of that "rivalry" didn't ya? *smirks*
> 
> Guess what? You were wrong! Haha-urhgh! *ends up choking on the lollipop*
> 
> Anyway, I just hope it was as good as you guys hoped this special chapter would be and just as sad as I hoped it would be xD


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which two canon!characters appear. Take a wild guess in advance!

12\. The Big Bunny.

 

Months had passed by since the kidnapping.

And what a few months they had been indeed, an exhilarating change for Kentaro. He couldn't help but feel pleased with the outcome of it all seeing how his hard work of trying to become friends with Kuroo ―which had been the pathway of his kidnapping in the first place anyway― seemed to have paid off in the end.

Kentaro could still remember the looks on the faces of the raven head's so called "friends" when Kuroo simply brushed past them (with a rather cold greeting the next morning after the kidnapping) and then plopped himself on the seat next to Kentaro's― after evacuating it of its previous owner with _just_ a smile, of course.

(Hell, even the amber eyed boy had been shocked and couldn't help but openly gape at Kuroo!)

The raven head then turned to him and began a casual conversation as though they had been friends this whole time.

It could be said that things, more or less, changed that fateful day.

Including the supposed class hierarchy.

No one dared to treat Kentaro with disdain, though this was only followed when the raven head was around. But eventually, they (Kuroo's old friends in particular) learned their lesson never to pick on him even in the raven head's absence after the said boy himself caught them trying to mess up Kentaro's locker―

…well, it was an unpleasant affair that ended with the children in tears and Hibari Kuroo strutting out of the classroom like he owned it with a certain shell-shocked amber eyed boy in tow.

To think it had been months already.

Sakaguchi Kentaro still had a hard time believing the reality of it all during the initial phase.

But he got used to it, _eventually._

And now they were even walking home together on a daily basis!

Kentaro snapped out of his musings when the kindergarten where Kuroo's little brother studied in came into view.

Speaking of the said little brother, the amber eyed boy still couldn't figure out why the younger Hibari seemed to treat him with so much hostility. Kuroo did say that it was his younger brother's usual way of treating others but it didn't stop him from wondering if he had perhaps done something wrong. He was pretty sure Kyoya had liked him _(and that the "bite to death" comment was just one of those cute things kids his age often said)_ when they had first m―

"Kuroo, isn't that your brother!?"

Kentaro's train of thoughts came to an abrupt stop and he looked rather horrified as he caught sight of the younger Hibari backed up against a tree by three of the little raven's classmates who were much bigger in size with sneers slapped on to their faces and auras that all but screamed nice.

The raven head paused. "Yes. It does appear to be Kyo-chan."

Kentaro shifted a little nervously on his feet at his friend's nonchalance. "Then shouldn't you ―I don't know― maybe help him, or something?"

Kuroo turned to him with a brow quirked up. "And why do you think I should interrupt my little brother when he's in the midst of playing with his classmates?"

"Because he's being surrounded by _bullies?_ And they don't look like they're playing but rather seem like they're going to―…" The amber eyed boy immediately cut himself off because the picture before him _now_ was a total contrast, what with the younger raven head moving forth like a wild cat, movements seeming raw and purely based on instinct.

The kid lashed out his fists and feet, drawing out pained yelps of surprise from his assaulters before they retaliated.

What resulted next was a combination of a mess of limbs, punches and kicks, and a lot of yelling too. However, it all came to an immediate halt when the leader of the trio burst into tears ―bawling rather loudly― after Hibari Kyoya clamped his mouth shut on his cheek _(which was much easier than expected because of the still present baby fats),_ drawing blood as he did.

The other two sidekicks then made a break for it after witnessing such a grotesque sight for their innocent minds, running like their lives depended on it ―which of course was somewhat true, seeing that this was the future Demon of Namimori they were dealing with― and leaving their leader all alone.

The little raven head dusted his hands, a look of satisfaction in his features before grabbing the now collapsed and still crying leader by the collar, dragging him along towards the―

"Is he really trying to fit him into the trash bin!?" Kentaro exclaimed in disbelief, his jaw dropping as he pointed an accusing finger at his friend's younger brother who rather easily shoved the other boy into the said trash bin despite being much smaller, thankfully not face first though.

_Where on earth were the teachers in charge!?_

Kuroo just shrugged when Kentaro turned to him, still gaping.

Meanwhile, Kyoya trotted back to the tree he had been sitting under before the herbivores decided to disrupt his peace, grabbed his backpack and then headed over to where Kuroo and his herbivore stood by the gate, waiting for him.

He considerably brightened up when Kuroo greeted him with a pleased smile and stretched out a hand for him to take. "You're learning well, Kyo-chan."

The younger boy visibly preened at the praise as he took hold of his brother's hand, fingers smoothly intertwining with practiced ease. He sent a half-glare of acknowledgement to his brother's herbivore before fixing his gaze to the front, intent on getting home soon; he was sleepy after dealing with the herbivores.

"What is he learning from you?" Kentaro brushed off the glare as per usual before asking with curiosity.

Kuroo smirked. "Kufufu, oh, it's nothing much; just the universal fact that it's the duty of every responsible person to put _trash_ where it truly belongs―" he paused before dramatically waving a hand at the said subject of his speech "―the trash bin."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It was Hibari Kyoya's birthday the next day.

Kuroo absently mused over the fact as he dipped the sushi wedged between his chopsticks into the flavouring sauce. The boy would be turning five. He sighed. Time was passing by much faster than he wanted it to.

"Kyoya, you shouldn't bring your toys to the table." Alison gently chastised the said raven head with fond exasperation. "Leave them in your room, those plastic tonfas of yours won't walk off elsewhere if you part with them for even just a few minutes."

Ah, yes.

The little demon was now wielding tonfas, albeit plastic. He was _upgrading_ much too quickly for Kuroo's tastes. And it was not amusing in any way, especially when you happened to be the first target of said tonfas.

_("I didn't mean to hurt Kuroo." Kyoya said, eyes downcast as he bit his lower lip._

_"But you did and now, he has a bruise on his back. Can you explain why you lashed out at him with your toys?" Alison sighed as she gently reprimanded the younger Hibari._

_"Kuroo is my brother." Kyoya shrugged in reply._

_Oh, the stupid reasons kids came up with these days.)_

"Let it be, it is the first time that he seems to have grown very attached to a gift from his father." Hibari Izanami smiled, looking quite content as she fed her youngest with the variety of dinner laid out on the table.

Kyoya hugged his tonfas closer to his chest with a fierce nod, shooting a glare at his aunt before shifting his attention back to his mother who held a piece of sashimi by her chopsticks to his mouth. He obediently allowed himself to be fed by her, not just because she was his mother but also since she happened to be the _only_ person who could without having to force him to it.

Hibari Akihito, meanwhile, wore a contented expression as he took a sip of the drink in his hand. He was quite satisfied that he had made the right choice in picking the limited edition of toy tonfas over the toy pistols from his last trip to China for his youngest.

Kuroo gave another sigh.

Indeed, this was one of those dinners when the whole family was present at the table.

"It's Kyo-chan's birthday tomorrow." Kuroo idly stated as he laid down his chopsticks after finishing his meal.

"Yes, and he has expressed his desire of wanting to visit the zoo," Izanami replied, "instead of holding a party."

"I want to see the carnivores eating the herbivores." Kyoya piped in casually with a shrug.

Alison wore a strained expression as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kyoya, the carnivores will be kept in separate cages away from the herbivores. There will be no _'carnivores eating herbivores'_ involved in the zoo."

The younger raven furrowed his brows. "But I saw it on television."

"The zoo? That's so boring." Kuroo sniffed, tuning out the conversation his _tante_ and little brother began, regarding what _actually_ took place in the zoo. "We've been to the Kyoto City Zoo so many times, I've lost count and have the whole area perfectly mapped in my mind. Why don't we go somewhere else for a change?"

"Any suggestions?" Izanami asked.

He paused for a moment to think. "How about somewhere like―"

"The Namimori Zoo!"

The startled stormy greyish-blue eyed boy jumped from his seat at the sudden arrival of Sepira who so elegantly chose to burst through the doors _(er, pass right through it?)_ while practically yelling out the venue suggestion as she did. He cast a sharp glare at her before composing himself while giving an excuse that he had thought he felt something crawling up his leg.

"Namimori Zoo?"

This time the words weren't from Sepira's lips but rather Kyoya's. The little raven had his head cocked to the side with curiosity as he stared in the ghost's direction. Kuroo sighed _(he was sighing way too much today)._ Right. He had completely forgotten that he wasn't the only one in the room who could see the apparition of the dead Giglio Nero Primo.

Izanami looked quite astonished. "Namimori? Of all places, you want to go to the zoo in Namimori?"

"Is there something wrong with the suggestion?" Kuroo asked with mild curiosity as he readjusted himself on his seat.

His mother shook her head. "I am just…surprised that you would want to visit Namimori. It's almost a remote area; did you hear about it from someone?"

"Kuroo's friend." Kyoya helpfully answered as he nodded in Sepira's direction, earning a smile from the woman herself who looked quite relieved.

"I don't think it's as remote as you imagine it to be, mother. If I'm not mistaken, it also has a city area." Kuroo replied before adding in an afterthought, "Well, at least that's what my _friend_ told me."

"I guess it must have developed over the years then. I don't know since I haven't seen it in such a long time." Izanami said as she nodded to herself.

"Oh, you've been there?" Kuroo asked, much interested in where this conversation was going.

He had been questioning the reason why the Hibari weren't in Namimori but rather in Kyoto, something that had been bothering him for quite a long time. But the Kyoya in his previous life had lived by himself, away from his parents so that brought up another question of whether the demon had originally lived in Kyoto before shifting to Namimori at some point of time in the early years of his life.

 _Would I have to make that happen?_ Kuroo wondered.

"Yes." It was his father who chose to answer. "We lived there during the first few months of our marriage."

Kuroo blinked. "Why come back?"

"Because it was more convenient for your father to help out in the family business from Kyoto." Izanami wore a fond smile. "But I did spend a few more months there by myself along with a friend who provided me company after I learned that you were in my womb. It is such a serene place, full of fresh air, something the doctor advised was good for my health; a stress free environment. I think that's why you didn't turn out to be socially awkward like your father and brother."

Hibari Akihito huffed at the tease his wife had thrown at him, eliciting a laugh from her.

"So am I going to the Namimori Zoo then?" The impatient little Kyoya interrupted his parents.

"Of course." Izanami replied as she placed a light pat against the cheek of her youngest with much affection. "It's your birthday so why not?"

Kuroo couldn't help but sigh again.

This time it was because of the knowing smile that Sepira shot in his direction. She always did that when something was going to happen to him. It was another way of coming to know that she had had a foresight of his future.

And he learned to be wary of it.

After all, a foresight which had once been given to him with not much of a hint had ended up in a kidnapping.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"Are we there yet?" Kyoya grumbled as he poked his head out of the window again.

Kuroo spoke as he watched his tante gently tug him back in. "Don't do that, Kyo-chan. It's not wise or safe. And we'll be there pretty soon. You can already see signboards for Namimori up ahead."

"Yes, Kyoya, listen to your brother and sit still." Alison agreed as she fussed over the now crumpled shirt the boy was sporting. "Look at what you've done while being so restless."

"He can always use a jacket over it, tante. I did pack one in his suitcase." Kuroo said when his younger brother scrambled onto his lap in an attempt to get away from the blonde woman's pestering hands. He snaked his arms around the younger's waist to sit him still. "And if you don't stop moving about, Kyo-chan, I'll make sure tante resumes."

The boy went perfectly still with a sulk, sinking into the warmth of his brother's chest.

"Good." Kuroo hummed.

"Did you remember to pack the sunscreen, _jeune garçon_?" Alison asked as she turned to him with a slight frown.

"Yes, of course." He rolled his eyes. "As if I would forget how sensitive Kyo-chan is when exposed to too much sunshine. He's like a little vampire."

"Alright, your mother will be arriving a little later so you boys have to be in your best behaviour while we're visiting the zoo even though she isn't around. Have I been understood?"

"Only herbivores don't know how to behave." Kyoya replied, his chin jutting out as he did.

Kuroo smirked in amusement. "Yes, only herbivores don't know how to behave."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The stormy bluish-grey eyed boy pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand while the other was busy occupied, holding on to two cones of ice-cream. He might as well just discard it now seeing how it was starting to melt and Kyo-chan ―who had asked for one in the first place― was missing from the spot where Kuroo had told him to wait.

He turned around, eyes scanning through the heads of the people around him as he tried to catch a glimpse of his brother. Despite it being an off-day, the zoo was pretty crowded what with the kindergarteners from the Namimori Kindergarten being here on a tour, along with a parent or guardian and their teachers, as part of a school activity. Or something.

He huffed. He would just have to go looking for Kyo-chan then. And that too before _tante_ arrived along with mother and the two learned the younger Hibari was _missing._ Oh, the horrors of what would happen if they ever found out.

Kuroo pushed the two cones of ice-cream into the hands of a random kid who was passing by, surprising the slightly tanned and black haired kid who seems to struggle to find his voice to thank the raven. But by then, Kuroo was long gone, leaving a stunned kindergartener staring at the treat in his hands before a happy grin stretched out on his face.

They were of his favourite flavour too. It was a pity his father couldn't come along today because of work. Well, at least his mother had. He beamed as he remembered that she loved the flavours he did too.

 _I must sha_ _re it with her!_ He thought as he ran off in the direction his mother was.

Meanwhile, Kuroo almost sagged to the ground in relief on catching sight of Kyo-chan who turned out to be right behind a cluster of bushes not far off from where Kuroo had asked him to wait. He wasn't even surprised to find the little raven in some kind of a face off with a few kids from the Namimori Kindergarten.

Kyoya had his toy tonfas out and was glaring at the kids, as though daring them to take a step closer.

The children shuffled nervously in their feet, unsure of whether or not to flee at the threat before them. Kuroo couldn't blame them for their hesitation because who on earth would take a kid in a Pikachu hoodie flashing some sort of unknown toy at them with seriousness?

(They'd probably learn in the future that _these_ toys would evolve into something much more painful.)

If anything, Kyo-chan looked more cute than dangerous.

With a snap of his fingers, Kuroo summoned the illusion of a fierce dragon right behind his baby brother which was enough to send the children running at top speed while screaming their heads off. Kuroo rolled his eyes before making his way through the bush to his brother.

He huffed as he brushed off some of the leaves that had clung on to him. "Kyo-chan, what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to wait by the bench for me?"

"But Kuroo, I found a big-bunny." Kyoya blinked innocently. "Those herbivores were bullying the big-bunny."

Kuroo then noticed a small trembling form right behind Kyoya. The form being much too large and pink to be a bunny―

"Kyo-chan...that is _not_ a bunny." Kuroo deadpanned as he eyed the so called _"big-bunny",_ coming to a conclusion that it was merely a child in a bunny onesie.

"...I-I'm not a bwu―" The said kid spoke in an adorable manner with a sniff as he slowly raised his head to look at them, eyes shining with tears that were just drying up. "―…bwunny."

Kuroo opened his mouth to speak but instead found his next words caught in his throat. His mouth hung open in the most undignified manner _(even though it was merely the action of_ _parting his lips slightly)_ that a Hibari could ever display. And he blamed it upon the kid in the baby pink bunny onesie.

All because _this_ was no ordinary kid in a bunny onesie.

This was unmistakably Sawada Tsunayoshi in a _fucking_ bunny onesie!

All of his senses screamed it.

Oh heavens, he had to make sure.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

The boy who seemed so small and frail blinked up in surprise at Kuroo. Even Kyoya wore a look of bewilderment― but that must have been because the little raven had probably come to a realisation that his so called _"big-bunny"_ was actually a huma―

"Look, Kuroo. The bunny can talk."

―or _not._

"You know my name...?" Tsunayoshi asked in an almost wary but shy manner as he picked himself off the ground, wobbling a little as he stood. He shifted his gaze to look anywhere but at Kuroo, tugging on his onesie's sleeve nervously.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Kuroo replied as a smile crept up on his face.

_Maybe this was why Sepira was so adamant on having us come here, to meet the future Decimo._

"But I… _oh_." The boy paused, a furious blush replacing the frown that had appeared with Kuroo's reply. "I'm Dame-Tsuna. _Everyone_ know's Dame-Tsuna."

Kuroo sighed. No surprise that the Decimo had already been branded with that title. It could explain why he had such low self-esteem during the initial years when they had met in the previous world.

Thankfully, he didn't need to do anything about it because Kyo-chan, _surprisingly enough,_ chose to voice out his opinion then. "I don't know you. I never heard of Dame-Tsuna. Is that a new kind of bunny?"

Tsunayoshi's eyes snapped up to stare at the little raven head in bewilderment. His chocolate brown eyes shone with surprise as he was left speechless.

Kuroo snorted, unable to help himself. "Kyo-chan, for the last time, he's not a bunny." He lightly whacked his baby brother's head affectionately before turning to the future Decimo. He offered him a warm smile. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I…we came for a tour to the zoo…and I lost my mom and- and the other kids don't like me, I tried to stay with them but…" Tsunayoshi brought his hand up to rub his eyes as tears threatened to fall again while he narrated the tale. No one ever listened to him except for his mother but this time, something told him that the older raven infront of him would. "…they pushed me away…"

Kuroo wore a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm, would you like to go get ice-cream with us, Tsunayoshi?"

The boy turned into a stuttering mess in less than a second. "M-Me? Ic-ic-ice-cream?"

"Of course, and you can have as many as you want too." He replied as he took Tsunayoshi's little hand in his with an encouraging smile. "After all, it's Kyo-chan's birthday today. I'm sure he would love you to join us, won't you Kyo-chan?"

The little raven head who had been suspiciously eyeing the _clasped_ _hands_ of his brother and the bunny tore his eyes away from the sight to look at Kuroo. Though perfectly unaware of it, his lips pulled to a pout before he himself reached out with slight hesitation to take Kuroo's other hand. Then, seeming quite satisfied with it, he nodded in approval. "The bunny can eat ice-cream with us."

Tsunayoshi gasped at in sudden realisation, casting his head down in shame as he did. "But…I don't have a- a present."

"Kufufu, that's perfectly fine." Kuroo chuckled, gently tugging the two kids forward as he began to walk. "Your presence is as good as a present itself."

"Oh, b-but my mother?"

"We'll find her _after_ you take your share of ice-cream and we take our own tour of the zoo. I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Kuroo assured, too relieved that his only purpose for coming to Namimori was _(presumably)_ just to meet the future Vongola Decimo. And that this time there was nothing as big as a kidnapping involved. "I promise that I'll take good care of you, alright?"

Tsunayoshi gave a shy nod. "O-Okay."

"Come. The ice-cream will melt and we won't get any." Kyoya grumbled as he squeezed and tugged his brother's hand, uncomfortable with the kindness he was suddenly showering upon a complete stranger. "And the bunny has to go find its mother quickly."

Kuroo simply laughed.

 _Oh these children, they can't seem to_ _get enough of_ _someone as_ _captivating and_ _charming as me._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Yamamoto Azumi smiled as she turned around, hearing the familiar voice of her son call out to her.

"Takeshi, what do you have there?"

The kindergartener who was slightly taller than all his classmates beamed brightly as he excitedly rushed over to his mother. He held out the two cones of ice-cream in his hands to show it to her. "Look, mother! Someone gave this to me! Two ice-creams!"

"Oh, and did you thank them?" She raised an eyebrow as she accepted the one he thrust towards her.

Takeshi's hand went up to scratch the back of his neck as he gave out a sheepish laugh. "Eh, the senpai disappeared. I couldn't say thank you. But I'll make sure to when I see him again!"

His mother laughed at the way he hurriedly added those words. She reached out and gave an affectionate pat on his head. "Good boy, never forget your manners alright? Now, why don't you eat your ice-cream up before it starts to melt and make a mess in your hands?"

"Okay!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, Yamamoto's appearance was totally unplanned. AND this chapter was supposed to be longer but it would have ended up being too long so yeah, it'll be continued in the next chapter.
> 
> And to all who guessed Tsuna's appearance right, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> Thank you all for giving this a try, your kudos and support! Greatly appreciate it! :')


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots and lots of crazy fluff (or at least that's what I attempted) between a certain little Demon and everyone's favourite Decimo in this chapter! Because, apparently Bunny!Tsuna was much loved in the previous chapter that I had to do something more with him in this one.

13\. Hibari Kyoya's new obsession?

 

"Kyo-chan, stop tugging at Tsunayoshi's ears."

The younger Hibari in question paused, his hand still closed around one of the soft long ears of the onesie the shy little Decimo wore. He blinked. "Fluffy."

Kuroo sighed. "Yes, it _i_ _s_ fluffy but that doesn't mean you have to keep playing with it. Tsunayoshi isn't comfortable with that."

 _Or with you,_   _as a matter of fact._

The little raven head's eyes narrowed momentarily as though trying to assess why his brother was stopping him from doing something he liked. This was quite unusual. Kyoya turned his steely gaze upon the big bunny he had been entertaining himself with.

Was it because of the bunny?

_Does Kuroo like the bunny too?_

It flinched at the sudden weight of his attention.

Without much thought, Kyoya's hand reached out to pat the bunny's head. It began to tremble, making the raven wonder if the little creature was cold. He voiced out his thought to Kuroo.

The older of the two siblings huffed in fond exasperation. "Kyo-chan, he's not cold. Rather, he's just simply terrified of you."

"But I'm not scary." Kyoya blinked.

His older brother snorted (with all the elegance of a Hibari, of course) at his reply. "You attempted to bite him on the cheek," Kuroo quirked an eyebrow as he reminded his little brother what had happened not too long ago in the past two hours, "while so blatantly claiming that it looked _tasty_."

 

* * *

 

(After barely thirty minutes of gawking —mostly on the little Decimo's part— and appreciating the lifeforms that sat behind the cages, Kyoya was already bored. He claimed that it was because the _"carnivores aren't eating herbivores"._

_Of course._

So they decided to rest instead. The three of them headed to the food court where Kuroo picked out a cosy place in the corner, told them to stay put before heading off to fetch something for the two to munch on. Children were, after all, much easier to handle when preoccupied.

When he returned, he was relieved to find that the duo were still where he had left them because he really wasn't up for looking for his brother again.

The two seemed to be engaged in a conversation on which animal had been the best among those that they had come across. Tsunayoshi was all for the little hedgehog, saying it was lonely and he wished he could have made it _"not so sad",_ while the raven believed the lion was clearly, the best.

Kuroo found it strange, the little Decimo and the little Demon of Namimori wrapped up in a deep conversation with no tension and fear among the two.

 _Who would have thought they would get along on their_   _first_   _meeting in this world?_

Unfortunately though, this was not fated to last forever.

The conversation was long forgotten the moment Kuroo placed the ice-cream he had promised before them.

Despite being shy and hesitant initially, Tsunayoshi eventually gave in and began to enjoy his treat with contended noises of appreciation.

And this was when Hibari Kuroo noticed a strange look in his younger brother's eyes.

The younger Hibari had stopped eating to stare unabashedly at the fluffy brown haired boy. His eyes trained to the little Decimo's face, an almost predatory gleam shining in those steely grey orbs. It confused Kuroo because he had never seen this side of his younger brother.

Kuroo openly frowned when Kyoya shifted closer to the blissfully unaware Sawada Tsunayoshi.

_Something is off._

Even the little Decimo finally seemed to notice it, turning to face Kyoya with his caramel brown eyes slowly widening in confusion.

But this didn't stop Kyoya in his advance.

So when he moved closer, breaking past the other's personal space to bring their faces at an uncomfortable proximity where their noses almost bumped against each other—

_Good lord! They weren't about to kiss, were they!?_

—Kuroo moved instinctively at the same time. He hauled the younger raven back by the collar, none too gently, the very moment the little demon flashed his whites.

Hibari Kyoya's jaws clamped down on nothing but thin air (—but what would have been Tsunayoshi's cheek if Kuroo had not acted quick enough!).

However, the damage had already been done.

Despite not _physically._

Tsunayoshi stared at Kyoya with an ashen look, his ice-cream long forgotten and splattered on the ground.

There was a beat or silence.

And then, Sawada Tsunayoshi burst into tears.)

 

* * *

 

The raven simply shrugged it off as though it was nothing. "Soft. Like cotton candy."

The little Decimo squeaked, eyes beginning to water again as he brought his hands up to cover his cheeks. " 'M not c-cotton can— _hic_ —dies."

Kuroo gently tugged the brown haired lad towards him before shooting his younger brother a stern look. He wasn't looking forward to having to calm down the little Decimo once more. "It's alright, Tsunayoshi. He wouldn't do it again."

But the young Decimo precariously retreated behind Kuroo instead.

"Is the bunny sad?" Kyoya tilted his head to the side, his expression saying that he was trying to comprehend the situation but miserably failing to do so.

(Kuroo couldn't help but wonder if the Demon of Namimori had always been _this_ dense.)

"Is it because mama bunny is late?"

"Kyo-chan, he's now hiding behind me for a reason." The stormy bluish-grey eyed boy sighed. Just how long was it going to take to get the plain truth across to him!?

"You're scaring him. He's not sad, he's scared. Of you."

Kyoya wore an adorably concentrated look as he finally _(like finally!)_ understood why the bunny refused to stay close to him. His eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed tight as he tried to find a solution to this problem. "I won't _bite_ you."

This had the little Tsunayoshi poke his head out from behind Kuroo, an expression of surprise and a little bit of uncertainty etched across his features. "You…promise?"

"I do." Kyoya replied without hesitation, catching Tsunayoshi off guard. The kid had clearly not been expecting compliance from the raven.

Those _magic_ words seemed to be what Tsunayoshi was looking for.

"So, we…friends?" Tsuna asked as he stepped away from Kuroo, a sudden boldness overcoming him.

(Tsuna knew this scary raven haired kid wasn't a bad person. Something told him he was a nice boy, and that he wouldn't really hurt him. And that the boy was just a little lonely, like that small hedgehog.)

Kyoya also took a cautious step forward. He edged closer to the bunny with slow steps so as to not frighten it off. Kuroo had, after all, said that it was scared of him.

" _Friends_?" The little demon repeated the word that sounded, tasted foreign on his tongue. He paused before answering with a blunt and bold, "No."

Tsuna's eyes widened. "B-But you— hie!"

Tsunayoshi screamed because the scary little boy was suddenly standing right in front of him. He flinched rather violently when the raven's hands came down upon his shoulders only to pul him flush against the other's taller frame.

"No." Kyoya repeated, looking quite pleased with himself for catching hold of the creature before it could run away again. "Bunnies cannot be friends. You are _not_ my friend."

Tsuna cowered, praying to not be bitten seeing how close the other was to him.

"No. You are _my_ pet."

Kuroo who had been silently watching the two this whole time, laughed. It broke the tension that had settled between the two younger kids who now turned to face him— Kyoya's smirk had been wiped off clear from his face, replaced instead by a displeased look because the _"moment"_ had been ruined.

As for Tsunayoshi, the boy's caramel doe eyes which were trained on the older Hibari only seemed to scream for help.

"Ah, so here you are, you naughty boys." A familiar voice called out with a huff of exasperation. "Didn't I tell you to wait by the front?"

"Alison, it's alright. They seem to be enjoying themselves."

Mother and _tante_ had arrived.

"Took you long enough." Kuroo drawled.

"Kyoya…oh, and who might this be?" Hibari Izanami asked in curiosity as she quirked an eyebrow.

"This is Tsu—"

" _My_ bunny." Kyoya declared, shifting his grasp from the bunny's shoulders to wrap his arms around it in an almost possessive embrace, all the while ignoring its whimpers. "Can we take it home? It's a nice pet."

"—nayoshi. Sawada Tsunayoshi." Kuroo introduced. "But Kyo-chan, here, thinks he's a bunny and for the past two hours, I have not been able to convince him otherwise."

 _Tante_ lightly knocked the younger Hibari on the head. "Kyoya, you're suffocating the poor child, let him go."

"But the bunny will run away."

"Kyoya."

"No."

Izanami laughed as she placed a gentle hand on her youngest son's shoulder. "Kyoya, you wouldn't want your bunny to die, would you?"

The raven scrunched his face up. "Of course not."

"Then you should let it go," she told him, "just a little bit. Enough so that your bunny can breathe. Can you do that?"

"But the bunny will _run_ away." Kyoya stressed upon his point, his grip growing tighter in his agitation.

"Then let me hold him instead." Izanami suggested. "I promise I won't let him go."

After a second of hesitation, the little demon loosened his hold, albeit reluctantly, allowing his mother to scoop up the trembling caramel eyed boy into her arms.

"Hello there." She greeted the young Decimo as she soothingly rubbed circles on his back in an attempt to calm him down. "Don't mind Kyoya, he just finds you very cute."

Kuroo snorted at the statement, making his little brother bristle.

"Let's go home." Kyoya said. He looked around with a look of suspicion. "Now."

"Kyo-chan, you are _not_ taking him home," the stormy bluish-grey eyed older brother replied in exasperation, "and for the last time, he is _not_ a bunny. At all."

"Where did you pick him up from?" _Tante_ asked with a raised brow as her hand instinctively moved to brush a few strands of Kuroo's fringe to the side.

He made an annoyed sound as he lightly slapped her hand away. "Kyoya found him; the poor kid was being bullied."

"Weren't his parents around?" The blonde woman frowned.

"No, they— ah, here comes his mother."

"Tsu-kun!" Sawada Nana in all her brightness and sparkles (Kuroo could never really understand how she managed to pull that off every single time) exclaimed as she hurried over to their side.

"Oka-san!" The boy perked his head up from where it had been resting on Izanami's shoulder immediately on hearing his mother's voice.

Kuroo gave an amused smile at the sour look that darkened his younger brother's face when he realised Tsunayoshi's mother had arrived. It was quite funny how Kyoya who had been so jealous and eager for the young Decimo to leave earlier was now all for taking him home to keep him as a _"pet"._

"Oh there you— Izanami!?"

The raven haired woman seemed surprised as she turned to fully face the other woman. "My, if it isn't Nana."

Kuroo's smile slipped a little. "Wait, the two of you know each other!?"

His mother laughed in delight. "Why, of course! Remember how I told you I stayed in Namimori while you were in my womb? And a friend kept me company?"

"Oh!" It was Sawada Nana who exclaimed. "So this is Kuroo-kun? My, he's grown so big!"

Tsunayoshi who had been shifted over to his mother's arms stared down at the older of the Hibari siblings with wide eyes. "Oka-san knows Kuroo-nii?"

"So, we can keep the bunny since you know the bunny's mother?" Hibari Kyoya asked, sounding hopeful.

Meanwhile, Kuroo believed he needed to sit before he lost balance from the sudden load of information that hit him.

Thankfully enough, _tante_ had come to the rescue. "Why don't we all sit down somewhere and catch up? This does seem like it will take quite some time."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The group ended up in a cosy family sushi bar which was apparently, the best in Namimori. And surprise, surprise! It was run by none other than the Yamamoto family.

_But of course._

Kuroo felt as though the town was trolling him, what with it suddenly shoving people he knew from his past life right in his face.

Yamamoto Tsuyoshi seemed the same, if not much younger.

It all just very, well, _strange._

Kuroo hummed as he politely helped himself to the sushi before him. It felt quite nostalgic, eating these again. He couldn't help but remember how the Rain Guardian would drag them all to his father's bar after long missions to treat them with an "all-you-can-eat" sushi buffet. Even when they were way past their prime time.

And even after some of them had passed on.

He chewed slowly as he took it all in—

"Hey! You're the ice-cream senpai!"

—and then, promptly choked on the _fucking_ fish.

"Takeshi! Don't go surprising customers like that!" A young woman scolded as she quickly appeared by Kuroo's side, handed him a glass of water and provided her assistance by lightly hitting on his back.

"Ahaha," the newcomer gave a sheepish laugh as he scratched the back of his neck, "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Kuroo stared impassively at the mini-Rain Guardian before him as he took a big gulp of water. There was a reason he never liked the man in his past life. He was _always_ laughing.

_How un-cute._

"It's nothing." Kuroo easily brushed it off with a casual quirk of his lips.

"He has a bad habit of always interrupting customers, especially the young ones." Yamamoto Azumi sighed.

_So, his mother's still alive._

"That was just once!" Takeshi pouted at his mother before turning back to face Kuroo, a finger so shamelessly pointing at him. "But look! He's the one who gave me the ice-cream!"

Wait.

He had actually met the mini-Rain Guardian before this!?

"What's this about ice-cream?" Tsuyoshi grinned as he joined in the conversation.

"Dad, this senpai gave me two ice-creams when we were at the zoo!"

"Takeshi, what have I told you about pointing? And did you—"

"This senpai did?"

"Yes!"

"—thank him for it yet?"

"Ah!" Takeshi exclaimed. He gave a quick and polite bow all the while wearing a wide grin. "Thank you for the ice-cream!"

Kuroo blinked.

The trio were just so… _energetic,_ in a rather chaotic manner that he couldn't be blamed for taking a few seconds to process the whole situation. He gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "Your welcome."

"That was really nice of you, I'd never seen him so excited." Azumi smiled at him.

"Well, what say we show him appreciation the Yamamoto way? Today's special just for you!" Tsuyoshi laughed. "And it's on the house!"

Well, this was going to be one _lively_  day spent in Namimori.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

By the time evening rolled by, they _finally_ decided it was time to part.

Which was such a relief because...

The three kids had been busy doing what kids did to entertain themselves (yes, even Kyoya was —surprisingly enough— joining in on the fun, but that was most likely because he wouldn't allow _his_ bunny to go off with someone else) and seemed like they might cause a catastrophe if whatever it was that they were up to wasn't stopped soon.

The women didn't seem to know when to bring an end to their talk.

And Kuroo was just too polite to ask Tsuyoshi to stop feeding him _("It's alright! This one's on the house as well!")_ because there was only so much of fish he could take in his whole life.

"Ah, Tsu-kun's starting to feel sleepy, I'll have to take him home."

"What an adorable boy! My Takeshi never seems to run out of energy!"

"Kyoya, Tsunayoshi has to go home so you have to let him go. Don't worry, I promise you will get to meet him again."

—blah, blah, blah.

Kuroo needed to rest before his mind lost it.

" _Jeune garçon,_ you forgot to take the packed sushi Yamamoto-san prepared for you." _Tante_ said as she walked out the sushi bar, a carry bag in hand, after having paid the bill. "I thanked him on your behalf."

The stormy bluish-grey eyed boy felt himself turn a little green at the thought of more fish. He replied, sounding a little strained. "You can have it, tante. I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it more than I would."

The woman smirked, clearly showing that she had seen right through his tough act. "Why, thank you."

"You're welcome."

"The car was parked a little distance away from here, you aren't too tired to make the trip are you?" She asked as she began walking, gesturing for him to follow.

"Of course not." He snapped in irritation.

Okay, so maybe he _was_ tired.

And this only seemed to amuse his _tante._

Sawada Nana and her son had already left by then, leaving Izanami with a restless Kyoya who seemed to be making things difficult by refusing to get into the car because: "But the bunny—"

Kuroo rolled his eyes, leave it to the little Demon to be such a dramatic.

However, as he took a step forward with the purpose of intervening and saving his mother the energy of trying to get the younger of the two siblings into the awaiting vehicle, he found himself frozen in his spot. Not out of any momentary shock or realisation, or anything of the matter. No.

Rather, it seemed to be because of the shadowy hand that had risen from the ground and was now holding his leg in a firm vice grip.

He directed an impassive glance toward it before proceeding to shake it off when he realised a little too late that doing such was a grave mistake on his part. Almost immediately, whatever it was that had held his leg captive emerged out of the ground to bind him in a full body grasp and he was suddenly pulled back into a world of grey.

_A dimensional time gap._

Kuroo watched in fascinated horror as another materialised and took his place by his _tante's_ side as he was sucked into the colourless world, someone who seemed to be an exact replica of him. Even in the confines of being trapped in between reality and an impromptu space that had been just created, the raven could easily make out that his replacement was a mere illusion. A mere but _powerful_ one.

And there was only one person he could think of currently in this time period in Namimori who could create such an illusion that would leave him mildly impressed.

He gave up the pointless struggle against the shadowy creature to tilt his head back and meet the person responsible for it all. The very person who wore a familiar checkered mask, paired with that obnoxious white suit and iron hat. Kuroo couldn't resist the smile that crept up on his lips. This old geezer didn't even seem to have changed from the last memory the raven had of him.

"Checker Face." The raven all but chuckled, not missing the way the other's eyes seemed to flash with a certain degree of uncertainty. He sarcastically brought out his question. "To what do I owe the honour of being graced by his Excellency's presence?"

"Who are you?" The man asked, taking just three long strides to close the distance between them.

Kuroo felt amusement at the fact that the usually _"all-knowing"_ man seemed to be having questions of doubt regarding the raven's identity.

"Or rather," Checker Face narrowed his eyes, " _what_ are you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet again, I never even had the intention of pushing a five year old Yamamoto Takeshi into the picture, he just happened. Well, I'm pretty sure none of you minded his presence though…right?
> 
> Anyway, since most of you found Tsuna in a bunny onesie really adorable, I couldn't help but put more of him in this chapter with an extra addition of Hibari Kyoya being obsessed over him. Like, who wouldn't be? No wonder Kyoya wanted to bite him. Hah!
> 
> Kuroo's year 9 is quite important to this plot I have in mind so we're gonna be sticking to it for like maybe one or two more chapters before I fast forward his life to get to the juicier parts, also known as canon!era.
> 
> And thank you for all the support! I really appreciate the bookmarks, kudos, comments and all who take their time off to give this a try! :')


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some information up here so that you people won't be left confused in between.
> 
> So yeah, to indicate that my characters are speaking in French, all such speeches will be in italics.

14\. _ESt ce que ça_   _va?_

 

Being swallowed and spat out from dimensional time spaces was something Kuroo did not want to ever go through the experience of again. It was _disgusting,_ purely because it was a very strange and foreign sensation for his body, unlike anything he'd _ever_ experienced.

Staying inside was no problem. It was almost normal even. Just that everything outside the time space moved real slow while the inside was just devoid of color.

That was it.

He hadn't really felt it when he'd been pulled in by one of Kawahira's shadow goons since its sudden appearance was rather _distracting._

When he stepped out of it though, he'd lost control over his own body for a few good seconds; his bones had felt all gooey and rubbery. A relief he quickly regained himself and straightened his posture since the last thing he wanted was to be spotted ungracefully sprawled on the concrete.

"Ah, I remember this place." Kuroo rose an eyebrow as he acknowledged the establishment before him. It felt pretty nostalgic staring at the building again. "The Kawahira Store."

And it was also the only thing he was allowed to see before cold shadowy hands shielded his eyes and tugged him back into the embrace of it's grasp. It seemed to meld right into him, unlike before when all it did was bind him, the purpose being so that it would takeover the reins of control of his body and guide him to the destined place for "a talk".

Kuroo didn't resist, seeming to accept his fate with a casualness that made the masked man frown. This only further roused his curiosity for the young raven head.

Checker Face, or rather his alter ego, had been enjoying the slow afternoon that Namimori usually went through with a nap when a sudden pulse of energy disturbed his peace. He was peeved by the abrupt intrusion into his territory by what felt like an oddly _ancient_ presence.

(He had made it a point to put up a barrier around Namimori, not one to keep unwanted guests away but rather to alert him of them. It was a convenient way to be prepared, he believed. Especially since the line of the Vongola Primo resided here, one could never predict what could happen if they weren't careful.)

Checker Face's first thought had been of the _Vindice,_ the guards of the Mafia law, seeing as to how their presence was quite old.

But he paused and reached out for the strange presence only to discover it wasn't as aged as the Vindice, and that there was also something off about it.

As though it had already seen death.

Which was just absurd. So, he had moved immediately and set out to find it. It was not relatively hard, but it wasn't as easy as well because once the presence had lost contact with the barrier, it grew less noticeable.

Checker Face, nevertheless, found the presence.

In a little boy too, much to his surprise. He had a hard time believing and had to actually do a double-check to see if the boy was being possessed by the presence. Surprisingly, he realized that was not the case at all.

Rather, his soul _was_ the presence.

What intrigued him, however, was how _tainted_ the soul of the little raven head appeared to be.

He watched over him for a few more moments as he tried to decide if the boy was a threat or not. If he turned out to be one, he would have to be eliminated. But if not, there would still be consequences that would be taken up to contain the boy.

Checker Face, however, had almost flipped when the boy came in contact with the bloodline of the Vongola Primo _(what were the odds!)._ His senses bristled in alarm and was ready to sweep in to intervene, only to stop when the Vongola child did not react negatively to the presence.

Instead, the child seemed to be at total ease with the raven.

And so, Checker Face decided that he would trust the _legendary_ Vongola intuition this time around.

Nevertheless, he still kept an eye on the boy.

Then, when an opportunity arose much later that day, he immediately swooped in and caught a hold of the presence. Surprisingly, the raven barely put up a fight and seemed almost resigned to his fate.

What alarmed Checker Face the most, however, was the fact that the presence, _the child_ knew him. And regarded him with a casualness that said he wasn't afraid!

He paused his thoughts as they arrived to the room he always had prepared for the interrogation of uninvited people such as this little raven.

After seating the raven head down (Checker Face's shadow goons played the part of strapping the boy to his seat to prevent him from getting away) and returning his sight back to him, the man took a seat himself.

He met stormy bluish-grey eyes that were already fixed on his form with an intensity that unnerved him.

"Now," he began as his hands came to rest on his lap, "tell me who you are."

The boy smirked. "Sure."

 

* * *

 

 

Hibari Kyoya sat at the entrance of the house they would be staying in for the night. His legs dangled from the edge of the raised wooden platform, swinging to and fro in an impatient manner.

He was waiting.

When his aunt had come out to call him in, he had refused to, saying that he would not enter the house without his nii-san. He ignored the strange look he'd received from her and the words that fell out of her lips, "What do you mean, Kyoya? Your brother is already inside."

The boy that followed them back home was not Kuroo. Even though he walked, talked and even looked like him, Kyoya knew he wasn't his brother. Because they didn't _smell_ the same.

And so he had decided to sit outside and wait for his brother whilst ignore the fake at the same time.

It didn't take long.

Soon enough, he spotted Kuroo— the real one who smelled like olives and what was that word again, ah, _evil,_ walking through the front gate with a tired expression.

Kyoya did not run up to greet him.

He had decided to sit and wait there, after all.

Kuroo was mildly surprised to see his younger brother sitting at the entrance. _Mildly_ because this was _the_ Hibari Kyoya, a little demon. So it wasn't much of a surprise, really.

But he couldn't help the raised eyebrow and the question that followed.

"Kyo-chan, what are you doing out here?" He asked as he moved a hand to rub at his eyes.

All the talking not long ago had been exhausting. If Sepira hadn't intervened, Kuroo was pretty sure the _"let's_ _have a_ _talk"_ would have stretched on for who knows how long and he would've been tired double the times now.

The younger Hibari opened his mouth to reply only to shut it as his steel-grey orbs suddenly adopted a very strange look, as though they were caught in a trance.

Kuroo frowned.

If it's _Checker Face_ _pulling something_ _off I'm_ _going to_ _cut the_ deal—

Kuroo's thoughts skidded to a halt when he realized just what his younger brother just might be staring at: _his hand._

He moved the very hand that was still on his face to the side and saw his little brother's eyes follow the movement with a sharpness to them.

Kuroo then waved his hand up and down and a few times to the side just to be sure (and also for the fun of it because Kyo-chan very much looked like one of those cats chasing laser lights) and watched in amusement as the little demon's eyes darted likewise.

Kuroo let out a huff and stopped. "What is it?"

Little Kyoya blinked owlishly, snapping out of the trance he had been caught in. "Are you..."

"Am I?" Kuroo cocked his head to the side.

"Is Kuroo late because he _marry_?"

The stormy bluish-grey eyed boy laughed after a short pause of bewilderment and also because his mind took time to process the question the younger Hibari had just asked him.

_Ah, so it was the ring on my hand he'd been staring at._

Checker Face had _(grudgingly)_ gifted an apparently rare ring to Kuroo. It's purpose being to tone down his presence, or something of that sort. Kuroo however had been more concerned with the whole shelf of imported chocolate bonbons. Don't ask how he even found it, he _just did._

He even got to take a case of them!

It was one of those moments when he truly appreciated Sepira in his life.

Kuroo swept forth to embrace the little raven as he still chuckled. "Of course not, Kyo-chan." He smoothly lifted him off from the raised platform. "I'm not late because I had to marry. This is just a very special ring to keep my _'overly unique presence a secret'_ so that I don't attract unwanted attention. Do you understand?"

The younger Hibari had a quizzical expression but nodded anyway. "So you're late because you had to keep a secret."

"Yes. Exactly." Kuroo laughed again as he made his way into the house. "And you should do the same and keep this to yourself. Alright?"

"Okay."

Kuroo put his brother down and shut the door behind them. "Excellent." He ruffled the little demon's hair. "Now let's go find the fake, shall we?"

 

* * *

 

 

_"We are going to France."_

Admittedly, it was a very sudden declaration but with the life he'd lived through so far (the past and this one as well), Kuroo wasn't so surprised.

His tante had planned to return home for the winter because it had been years since she had last seen her family. It was with this that Hibari Izanami decided they would also tag along; just herself and the boys since her husband had to take care of other family matters.

Izanami had told her sons that it would be a good experience to meet her mother's side of the family.

Kuroo doubted it but kept his thoughts to himself, lest he incurred his mother's wrath for such cheek.

Sepira seemed to be in a strangely good mood the whole time as they packed enough for two weeks of stay. This only made Kuroo suspicious, but even at his indirect jabs and direct questions, the woman just smiled and had her lips sealed shut.

Now that they were finally in France, Kuroo felt that something was bound to happen. But right now, he was just too tired to garner any kind of a reaction.

"Who's coming to pick us up?"

Kuroo was positively jet-lagged.

But his grumpy little five year old brother seemed to have it worse, the time difference having made him very tired and confused.

"My brother." _Tante_ replied as she adjusted the baggage piled up on the trolley. "He should be waiting for us outside."

"Oh, Casimir?" Izanami asked. "It's been so long since I've even heard from him."

"Yes. We haven't been in contact lately because of his business." Tante nodded. "And he had the family's winery to look after alongside his work. But the moment he heard we were coming, he immediately cleared his dates to take a short break. A good thing since family time is very precious."

"I can hardly wait to meet _tante_ Renée. She made the best _boeuf bourguignon,_ even my maman's couldn't compare to it." Izanami said.

"Your _maman_ won't be so pleased to hear you comparing her skills with that of her sister's." Alison laughed. "She's equally excited to meet you and your boys too."

"Hate to interrupt but Kyo-chan's looking very green, mother." Kuroo butted in.

"Oh, dear." Izanami fussed as she bent over, gently placing her hands against her youngest son's cheeks. "He _does_ look green. Kyoya, do you think you'll be able to go on another long car ride?"

Kyoya looked close to hurling at the mention of the word _"ride"._ He shook his head furiously, fists tightening and eyes turning watery.

Kuroo hid his smirk. Sometimes, the little demon could be very adorable. "Perhaps we could put up in some hotel nearby? Give Kyo-chan a day or two so that he can recuperate; I think that long flight really did him in."

Izanami nodded. "That sounds ideal." She scooped her son into her arms and straightened up. "Hang in there alright, Kyoya? You are a strong boy, aren't you?"

The little demon weakly nodded in response before buying his head into his mother's shoulder with a soft whine.

Tante huffed with fondness. "He's never really liked travelling, especially in public transports with a lot of strangers." She nodded. "We can hire the taxi for the two of you. I'll take Kuroo ahead with me because _maman_ would be disappointed if neither of the three of you turn up."

Izanami laughed. "Of course. Give her my apologies will you? Oh, wait." She turned to face Kuroo who had just opened his mouth to protest against the decisions that were being made for him as though he wasn't present. "You be the one to extend the apologies on behalf of the Hibari instead since you're _the oldest son._ No complaints, Kuroo."

"Really?" Kuroo raised an unimpressed brow.

"And since you know French quite fluently, it will do you good, work to your advantage to winning your mamie Renée's heart." Izanami nodded.

"But—"

"No complaints!"

 

* * *

 

 

Casimir DeLauro, the younger brother of _tante_ Alison was nothing like how Kuroo had imagined him to be.

Kuroo had heard stories of how Alison's brother would always be the cost of much of her troubles when she was younger. That despite how deeply he cared for his family, he could be such a nightmare for them sometimes.

So, Kuroo had presumed him to be playful and bright.

However, Casimir appeared to be more gruff than gentle and colder than warm. Somehow, the man appeared to not care or give a damn about anything, but was still carefully reserved in his behavior; something Kuroo had not expected after hearing about him.

Even in terms of appearance, he seemed less of what Alison had described him to be _("He's my frère, of course we will_ _bear resemblance. You don't have to look_   _for him anyway, I'll find him myself."),_ what with the high cheekbones and lighter shade of blond hair that was neatly swept back.

He piqued Kuroo's interest.

Because somehow, Kuroo could tell there was something _slightly off_ about him.

Alison and Casimir were the only children to the widowed Renée (aka the older sister to Izanami's mother and a French herself before she had married a Japanese and settled in Japan).

Kuroo decided that his mother's side of the family was somehow more complicated than his father's.

"So you're Izanami's son?" Casimir asked as he helped Kuroo with his seatbelt in the front seat. "Hibari Kuroo, was it?"

Kuroo hadn't been aware the man could speak in Japanese, even thought it was quite accented. "Yes."

"You're small for a nine year old." He grunted as he buckled his own seatbelt. "Small..." he seemed to struggle with the right word before giving up "...Asians."

" _It's alright, tonton, I can speak perfectly in_   _French._ " Kuroo smoothly replied, hiding his smirk at the surprise that flashed through Casimir's face. " _I assume you're more comfortable with your native language and since I am absolutely fluent in it, you wouldn't have to worry about conversing with me in_ _Japanese._ "

The blond seemed impressed, if the light tilt of his lip was anything to go by. "Huh."

Tante Alison huffed as she got into the backseat. She had just finished making sure her cousin and nephew had caught a taxi for themselves. She eyed the two in front of her. " _Well,_ _what's happening here? It seems you have made quite_ _an impression on Casimir seeing how_ _he is_ _not too_ _fond of_ _children_."

" _Tonton, you don't_ _have to_ _treat me_ _like a_ _child,_ _I am_ _as mature_ _as an_ _adult so_ _I wouldn't mind you treating me as one_." Kuroo flashed his best smile at the man. " _I do hope we get along in this two weeks_."

" _You speak French as though it's_ _your first language_." Casimir nodded as he started the car. " _I cannot deny the fact that I am impressed._ _Since when_ _have you picked up the language_?"

" _Ever since_ _he was_ _a wee_ _toddler. One and a half_ _years old_ _and already_ _fluent in_ _French_!" Tante Alison exclaimed.

" _What_?" Casimir's eyes were wide in disbelief.

" _Even his_ _own father couldn't believe_ _such a_ _feat was_ _possible_." Tante Alison shook her head. " _It_   _took a very long time for him to be fully convinced that he wasn't just hearing things._ "

" _I am a prodigy,_ _after all._ " Kuroo simply smirked.

Kuroo pretended not to see the unreadable look that Casimir inconspicuously sent his way.

" _That's...very unique_." The man offered after a pause.

" _He would speak more in French_ _initially after_ _learning it. Izanami got worried , but he eventually_ _grew_ _out_ _of_ _the habit_ _of doing_ _so after_ _turning four_ ," Tante Alison went on, " _we thought he would_ _forget_ _about_ _it_ _as_ _well,_ _but_ _we were proven wrong, as you can see today_."

Kuroo had long shifted his attention to the window, acting as though he was very entranced by the new sights before him.

" _Interesting._ " He heard Casimir mutter under his breath.

" _Oh,_ _how was this year's vendange_?"

" _Well, this year..._ "

Kuroo tuned them out as he plunged into his own trail of thoughts.

This vacation was definitely going to be something else.

 

* * *

 

The château of the DeLauro family was located about an hour's drive away from the airport; nestled in the countryside of Bordeaux.

The DeLauro had once been aristocrats during the bygone era.

It was no wonder their home bore the typical appearance of an old château that had been passed down through succeeding generations. But despite its entirety screaming "ancient", there was somehow a touch of modernity thrown into the mix, though Kuroo himself couldn't really tell what.

There was a also vineyard somewhere in the premises of the land, along with an orchard and the winery.

Kuroo had already been shown into one of the many rooms in the château after they had arrived, one that he would be sharing with his little brother since the younger wouldn't have been comfortable sleeping by himself in a new environment.

When he was through with unpacking, he left the room to explore the place. He decided against taking rest even though it would mean having his sleep pattern terribly ruined. It was just late noon compared to how it would already be night in Japan at the moment.

Kuroo wanted to get used to the place first for his convenience.

He hadn't still met with _Mamie_ Renée as the older woman had gone out due to some prior engagement and would not return until later in the evening. Kuroo mildly wondered what kind of person she would be like, a doting grandmother or a strict one.

" _Jeune_ _garçon,_ " he heard his tante call out to him just as he reached the end of the staircase. "Ah, just in time."

"In time for what?" He asked as he raised his brow.

"There's someone I'd like for you to meet." _Tante_ Alison smiled. "I haven't seen him in quite a long time, but when he was a little child, I used to look after him. And so did your mother when she had come to France for about two months. That was before she married." She said as she beckoned him to follow her. "In fact, I should say your mother and him grew quite attached in those two months. They even keep in contact till date, if I'm not mistaken. Has she not told you about him?"

"No, she hasn't. Who is he?" He asked as he cocked his head to the side.

Kuroo remembered seeing mail from abroad quite often addressed to his mother.

But he had never really paid attention or asked her about it because his mother's business was her business. He didn't really see a point in poking his nose into it. "A cousin brother?"

"Yes. He's arriving soon." Tante nodded "A cousin, though not a really close one. I think the term relative would be more suitable. He's a very _sweet_ boy."

"I presume he is older than me?"

"About thirteen or fourteen, I don't really remember." She said. "But he will keep you great company during this two weeks. I'm sure of it."

"I see—"

The doorbell rang thrice in a row, interrupting him mid-speech.

"Oh! That must be him!"

"How exactly are we related?" Kuroo asked as he followed his tante towards the front door.

"My twice removed third cousin's brother-in-law's daughter who—" Tante waved if off with a huff as the shrill sound of the doorbell interrupted their conversation _again._ "It's kind of a complicated story and he is an _Italian._ However, he can also speak French and even Japanese so you don't have to worry about communication!"

"What?" Kuroo felt a foreboding sense of trouble accompanied with dread slowly pooling in his stomach.

At the sound of the persistent doorbell interrupting _even his thoughts,_ Kuroo highly doubted the boy his tante wanted him to meet was _"a very_ _sweet boy"._

"Well, he has certainly grown to be very impatient." His _tante_ said as her hand reached out to pull the door open.

"I see," was all Kuroo had to offer before he had been rendered utterly speechless.

Hibari Kuroo had not been ready to see a familiar face despite somehow expecting it ever since his _tante_ had dropped off the hint that the boy was an _Italian._

But what he was most unprepared for was the fact that he was related _(Oh god, why?_ _Wasn't being_ _a brother_ _to a_ _demon enough!?)_ to _this_ uncouth barbarian.

This uncouth barbarian who was also, apparently, "attached" to his mother.

" _VOI!_ _About time_ _somebody opened_ _the goddamned_ _fucking door_!" The newcomer practically roared in greeting. " _What_ _took you_ _scums so_ _long_!?"

Well, _fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year to everyone reading this! lol
> 
> I know I disappeared again despite the promise, yikes. Sorry. Anyway, this New Year, I hope to bring more chapters to my dear readers without any long delays in between! *cheers*
> 
> I'm shooting canon characters at you one after the other, sorry not sorry because I'm loving it xD
> 
> [[French Translations]]
> 
> tante : aunt/aunty
> 
> boeuf bourguignon : a beef dish
> 
> maman : mother
> 
> frère : brother
> 
> tonton : uncle (I personally find this very cute!)
> 
> vendange : grape harvest
> 
> mamie : grandmother
> 
> Also, I might change my username (because ohmygawd it's super childish and there's just so much cringe in it) but I'll give the warning well ahead before I do. I say "might" because who knows, I could also just end up keeping it xD lol
> 
> Thank you all for the support! :')
> 
> And thank you for reading this!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional information that when my characters are speaking in Japanese, all such speeches will be in italics. This is only for when smol boi Kyoya appears.

15\. Superbi Squalo.

 

Watching the future Vice-Commander of Varia get trashed by _tante_ for the use of _"Mon dieu, such uncultured language!"_ was one of the best sights Hibari Kuroo had ever witnessed in this life.

And to think this will be the man to carry Varia, Kuroo scoffed, the one who will provide the clutches for the assassination squad.

Kuroo had long recovered from the initial shock of reality being shoved at his face.

Well, it had just taken him about a minute. After all, this was a parallel of the old world he had lived in so running into people he knew from his past life would obviously be inevitable.

Somehow, he realized, he had already mentally prepared himself for it somewhere along the nine years (and counting) of his new life.

"That stupid woman." The spiky silver haired teen cursed once _tante_ had walked out of the living room to get something to drink. He wore a frown as he rubbed his sore ear (no thanks to the blonde who had practically dragged him in by the ear while telling him off in rapid French).

Kuroo smirked.

"Voi, the fuck are you smiling for?" The other narrowed his eyes. "Piece of shit."

"I have a name." His smirk only seemed to widen. "It's Kuroo."

After a moment of assessment, the silver haired teen (Kuroo seemed unable to recall his name, perhaps this man had barely made an impact on him in his previous life— apart from all the yelling and swearing) grunted. "Squalo."

"Ah," Kuroo nodded to himself as the name came back to him. _Superbi Squalo._ "Of course, you're the shark."

"Excuse me?"

"Squalo, Italian for shark." Kuroo shrugged. " _Sto solo dicendo che sembra molto appropriato_."

" _Conosci anche l'italiano_?" Squalo raised an eyebrow.

"I guess." Kuroo hummed as he switched back to French. "There's no fun in knowing just two languages."

Squalo seemed to pause before nodding. "Yes. I have to agree."

There was a silence that settled between the two. Not an awkward one, but one that was heavy with curiosity (mostly on the silver haired teen's part) and nonchalance (on the raven's part).

It didn't take long before _tante_ reappeared with a tray in her hands, balancing two cups filled to the brim.

"Here, I got some fruit drinks." _Tante_ Alison huffed as she placed the tray on the glass table before them. "These were the only things I could find, _seigneur_! This house is lacking the required food and drinks!" She exclaimed. "What has Casimir been doing ever since the maids and cooks left for vacation!? And the butler is senile, he can't even hear!"

" _Tante,_ you should calm down." Kuroo rolled his eyes as he took a sip from his cup. "You've just arrived and you're already making such a big fuss."

" _Merde_! What has _maman_ been eating these past few days!?"

"Voi, lady, you're panicking like its the _fuc_ —" Squalo quickly changed his choice of words, almost choking on his drink in the process, at the sharp glare thrown at him by the blonde, "like it's the end of the world. You can always hire some temporary staff."

"He's got a point there." Kuroo nodded.

She appeared to be in deep thought.

"You," she pointed at Squalo before jabbing her finger back at Kuroo, "show him around the house while I see to more important matters. And find Casimir while you're at it; tell him we need the best wine for tonight's dinner."

"Well, she sure is bossy." Squalo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose after Alison had left. "Same old, same old, anyway, come along. Let's get this done with quickly, I have my sword to take care of after this."

"You play a sport?" Kuroo casually asked as he followed the spiky silver haired teen out of the room. "Fencing?"

"Hah, me? Use a flimsy toothpick!?" Squalo roared with laughter. He shook his head. "Well, I am a prodigy and do own one of those, but I now use a real deal sword made of steel; very sharp and heavy, it can actually kill! But kids like you wouldn't know." He paused. "However, if you're a good boy, I might as well show it to you...and maybe even make you hold it too."

"Have you killed anyone?"

"Huh?"

"You said your sword is so sharp and heavy, it can _actually_ kill, didn't you?" Kuroo asked with nonchalance. "So I was wondering, have you actually killed anyone with it?"

Squalo stopped in his tracks and turned around with narrowed eyes. He seemed to actually really assess Kuroo this time— the boy simply wearing a smile as he did, making an uneasy feeling stir within him.

_This Japanese brat is different._

"Well?"

And Squalo did not like how his smile seemed almost teasing.

"I won't tell on you." Kuroo brought a finger to his lips and cocked his head to the side, a picture of perfect innocence. "Your secret will be safe with me—"

"Stop." Squalo practically growled, slapping Kuroo's hand away from his lips. "Stop that."

"Is there a problem here, boys?" A smooth voice interrupted the two.

Casimir DeLauro stealthily slunk out from the shadows of the staircase they had been walking past, catching them by surprise.

"Tonton, your sister is looking for you." Kuroo said, his eyes momentarily narrowing. He hadn't heard him, or even sensed his presence in the first place. "She wants the best wine for tonight's dinner."

"That can be arranged for." The blond hummed as his arm slowly took a place round his nephew's shoulder. "So, it appears you have made a new friend..."

"Casimir." Squalo acknowledged the man stiffly. "I was not aware you would be here."

"And neither was I that you would." The man cocked his head to the side, ignoring the boy's rudeness in addressing him. "I had presumed that you would be busy with all your travelling and _silly_ sword waving."

"It's not—" Squalo suddenly burst out before reeling in his anger. "They are called duels. _Sword duels_ not...not silly sword waving."

"So you do kill?" Kuroo immediately snatched at the chance.

"I do—"

"What on earth are you telling my nephew?" Casimir quirked his brow.

"He told me his sword can kill." Kuroo looked up at his uncle.

" _Voi_!"

"Teaching a nine year old such a violent concept—"

" _VOI_!" Squalo yelled in frustration.

Somehow, this uncle and nephew duo seemed to be teaming up against him in a rather seamless effort despite meeting for the first time. And this annoyed Squalo.

The two quietened down and eerily eyed him before cocking their heads to the side, waiting for him to speak.

Squalo felt a shiver run down his spine at the sheer synchronization. He huffed. "Stop it, _stop_ teaming up against me."

"I was not aware we were teaming up against you."

"I was just trying to get an answer for my question too."

"See!" Squalo pointed at them accusingly.

Casimir brought his hand up to rest atop Kuroo's head. "Maybe you're just jealous because you don't have a _tonton_ to have a relationship like we do?"

"No, I am not jealous and neither do I want such a relationship." He growled in frustration. "You know what? Keep that thought to yourself, or even better, shove it up your _fucking_ asshole." Squalo threw his hands in the air as he turned around and headed for the exit. "I'm getting the fuck out of here."

"Be back before dinner!" Kuroo called out after the retreating figure of the silver haired teen in the most _endearing_ tone he could manage only to receive the middle finger flipped at him in return.

"I think we're going to get along just fine in these two weeks." Casimir hummed, pleased.

 

* * *

 

 

Mamie Renée was impressed.

No.

She was _delighted._

And couldn't stop fawning over Kuroo.

The woman practically jumped at him after he had greeted her and given her a thorough explanation (in fluent French, of course) on why his mother and little brother couldn't make it.

Tante Alison had even made a passing remark that Mamie Renée would have gladly just pushed her entire inheritance upon Kuroo, had Casimir not been the heir to it. The man who had also been present at that time just nodded in agreement.

Mamie Renée then rushed into preparing a _boeuf bourguignon_ for dinner meant especially just for Kuroo.

She definitely did fit the role of a doting grandmother alright.

When dinner rolled by, everyone was present and seated at the table; the stray shark who had made such a dramatic exit included.

(He had magically reappeared the moment dinner was to be served. Oh, the wonders of food.)

"Squalo, you said you had one more competition this December before the year ends, didn't you?" Alison said as she placed a rather generous portion of the _boeuf bourguignon_ unto Kuroo's plate.

"Kufufu, more _silly_ sword waving?" Kuroo teased with little subtlety while paying great attention to his plate.

The sharp scraping of knife against china sounded almost immediately, followed by a deep sigh. " _Voi._ They're duels, you fuck—"

"Language!" Tante Alison sent Squalo a sharp look that was ignored anyway.

(Mamie Renée, much like Casimir, didn't seem to flinch or even bat an eye at the slang words being passed around. Kuroo believed she must have gotten used to it after having Squalo around quite often.)

"—ing dipshit."

"Forgive me." Kuroo put on an apologetic front. "I was just trying to jest."

"Yeah right." Squalo stabbed at his food. "And yes, _tante._ It's...more of a one-on-one. Not exactly a competition."

"Last time you said that, Casimir told me you returned barely alive!" Alison narrowed her eyes. "Does this one even have rules? Who's organizing it? Are you sure this isn't something that is life endangering?"

"You're not my mother." Squalo rolled his eyes.

"Oooh," Kuroo stage whispered, " _salty._ "

" _Jeune garçon,_ if you don't keep quiet and eat—"

"Can't I converse with family?" Kuroo innocently batted his lashes at her. But _Tante_ Alison knew better and returned his gesture with a sharp glare. He huffed. "Fine."

"My boy, are you enjoying the meal?" Mamie Renée asked him from her end of the table, effectively taking his attention away from the two. "Is the _boeuf bourguignon_ to your liking?"

"There is nothing that could compare to how you prepared it, _Mamie._ No other chef could hold a candle to your _boeuf bourguignon_." Kuroo smiled. "Thank you for feeding me such an appetizing dish."

The woman beamed. "Very good." She nodded. "You are a very well mannered boy, as expected of Izanami's son."

There was an unfortunate choking fit from Squalo's part on hearing this.

The silver haired teen whipped his head to the side to face the raven head who was seated next to him. "You're _tante_ Izanami's fucking son!?"

Kuroo blinked as he turned. "Yes. Was my face not obvious enough? I am a _beauty,_ much like my own mother."

"Fuck, what do you— _shit,_ she's here!?"

"Squalo, I will drag you to the sink and wash the filthy language from your mouth with _detergent_ if you keep this up." Tante Alison slammed her fork down. "Or even better, I will tell Izanami of your behavior."

Kuroo's eyes glinted with interest when the silver haired boy seemed to pale considerably.

"Are you scared of my _maman_?" He tilted his head to the side with a slow forming smile.

"No!" Squalo defended himself a little too quickly.

Kuroo couldn't help the full blow smirk that was now plastered onto his face. "Oh, okay."

"If there is anyone in the family who has a firm hold on his leash, it's your _maman_." Casimir casually piped in. "The boy is terrified of her."

"My _maman_ comes tomorrow, I simply can't wait to tell her all about you!" Kuroo exclaimed with glee.

Squalo's eyes were wide with alarm. "Voi, you wouldn't dare—"

"If you tell me who is organizing the upcoming competition, I will make sure this _jeune garçon_ doesn't tattle on you." Tante Alison smoothly bargained.

Kuroo wrinkled his nose. " _Tante,_ you're such a killjoy."

"Fine." Squalo sighed. "The _Varia._ "

The raven head almost dropped his own fork at the sudden mention of Vongola's independent assassination squad. He quickly tightened his grip over the handle to prevent the silverware from slipping off his hand. It sure had taken him by surprise.

(All of this had happened very fast.

But hadn't gone unnoticed by a certain someone who sat across Kuroo.)

"Varia?" _Tante_ Alison frowned. "What kind of group—"

Mamie Renée raised her brow at the same time. "Varia? Now why does that sound so familiar—"

"A school. It's a school that holds fencing competitions, like one-on-one's, every winter." Squalo quickly replied, not giving both women a chance to think much about it. "I have to go up against the one in charge. I guess you can say it's a sort of initiation ceremony if we want to join the _organi—_ school."

The raven head snorted.

_A school alright._ Kuroo rolled his eyes. _But it seems that he's already aware of the assassination squad. Perhaps, this is the time period where he will soon take over the reins of Varia._

Kuroo had little knowledge with regard to the silver haired teen's past except for the fact that he had attended one of the most prestigious Mafia schools in Italy.

What he was also aware of (no thanks to a certain Rain Guardian who liked to talk a little too much during missions— to such an extent that Kuroo remembered it in this life as well, _wao_ ) was that Squalo had acquired the leadership over Varia during his teens before shifting it over to Xanxus, the _"born to rage baby",_ almost right after.

_Has he met Xanxus yet?_ Kuroo wondered.

_Tante_ Alison still seemed suspicious but nodded anyway. "Alright."

"Can I join the school as well?" Kuroo asked. "It sounds really fun."

"No."

Needless to say, his request was shot down by the two at the same time.

_Spoilsports._

"Do you train in any physical arts as well?" Casimir raised the question as dinner slowly drew to an end.

"Martial arts." Kuroo replied.

"Much like Squalo, he's a prodigy." Tante Alison supplied. "Began learning it ever since he was..."

"Six."

"Ah, yes." She nodded. "Six. And he now holds a black belt in karate and judo, while currently training in the arts of Muay Thai."

"At the age of nine? Already?" Mamie Renée asked in disbelief.

"That is simply wonderful." Casimir's eyes glinted with interest.

"I'm one of a kind." Kuroo preened.

"Why not stick to just one art?" Squalo scoffed.

"Better more talent than a stagnant one that involves _silly sword wa—_ oh, sorry. That just slipped out of my tongue."

"I'd watch my back if I were you." Squalo growled low.

"I'm terribly frightened." Kuroo faked a shiver.

"Voi, I do not like you now."

"Does that mean you actually liked me?" Kuroo batted his lashes _(and such fine fucking long ones they were, it annoyed Squalo how distracting they proved to be as the shithead drew closer),_ his voice dropping to a low whisper just loud enough for the other to hear. "Am I too attractive that I have stirred some _forbidden feelings_ in your heart?"

Squalo's eyes grew wide in horror at the implication. "What the—"

"Even though we're distant cousins, it might still be considered _incestuous_ you know."

"—FUCK!" The silver haired teen yelled as he stood up, chair sharply scraping against the marbled floor.

"Well, that was a rather quick progression. I take it you don't like to take things slow?" Kuroo angelically cocked his head to the side (if such an act was even possible). "...but we're both still _minors_..."

"The fuck is wrong with you!?" Squalo spluttered, ignoring tante Alison's indignation in the background. "Who taught you such— _fuck_!"

The silver haired teen had tripped in a poorly executed attempt to get away. He fell face first so it wasn't much of a surprise that he had been knocked out cold right after.

_Tante_ was already by his side, and Mamie Renée on her feet.

"Well," Kuroo blinked at the scene before him that escalated a little too quickly to be real, "I never took him to be someone who had a penchant for soap operas."

"Italians have drama in their blood." Casimir offered from across the table as he calmly sipped on his wine.

There was a pause of understanding.

"Ah."

 

* * *

 

 

When Superbi Squalo woke, it was to daylight streaming into the room.

And the annoying Japanese brat's face hovering right above him.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed as he shot up, pushing the boy away in the process. "Have you never heard of personal space!?"

The boy remained unusually quiet as he continued staring at him with those eerily blank steel grey eyes— _wait. Grey!?_

Squalo did a double take and realized the other seemed much smaller than he had remembered him to be.

On second thought, scratch that, the boy in front of him was definitely not Kuroo. Everything about this partial lookalike of the monster from last night (oh yes, he remembered what the little shithead had done!) screamed calm and curious rather than smug and haughty.

"Who are you?" He frowned.

"Kyoya." The boy titled his head to the side, something that seemed like déjà vu. "... _kamikorosu._ "

"Huh?" Squalo blinked at the unfamiliar sentence. Sure, he knew Japanese, but he still struggled with the language, in terms of being fluent in it.

_Wait, Japanese?_

"Voi, don't tell me you're another fucking son—"

"Ah, Squalo!" A very familiar voice he hadn't heard for years called out in French as the door opened.

—and Squalo had almost bit off his tongue in a hurried attempt to rein in the curse word.

"I see you're finally awake. Did you come to just now?"

There stood Hibari Izanami in all her grace and beauty, wearing her hair in a neat low braid, carrying a tray of medicine and food in her hands. She beamed at him as she stepped into the room.

" _Oka-san, he just used a bad word_." Kyoya said as he turned around to greet his mother. " _Will you scold him too_?"

The silver haired teen's eyes widened in horror at the kid's words. _This brat understands French!?_

" _Iie, Kyoya._ " Izanami said as she placed the tray on the bedside table before turning to scoop her youngest up into her arms. " _You're as bad as your brother when it comes to pointing fingers at people, did you know that_?"

The boy wrinkled his nose in reply.

The woman laughed again, making Squalo feel warm. It had been such a long time since he'd heard her melodious laughter. And seen her too.

So her sudden appearance wasn't really helping his poor heart.

He averted his gaze at he tightly clenched the blanket his hand had been resting on. This wasn't how he had wanted her to see him.

In bed.

Because of _a chair._

_How uncool,_ he thought.

Izanami had raised him like a son even though it had been for a short time. And then she kept in constant contact with him, caring for this health and welfare.

It was only right for him, he had long before decided, to feel guilty for not growing up like the model child he was sure she had wanted him to become.

He couldn't help but feel like such a letdown.

And somehow, it sucked.

"Squalo, I heard you were knocked out cold last night during dinner?" Izanami asked as she sat on the edge of the bed, resting her son on her lap.

Squalo felt himself turn pink (to his utter horror) at the embarrassing detail. He was going to kill Kuroo for landing him in such a predicament. "It was nothing."

"I was told you tripped because of your chair." She continued. "I never took you to be the clumsy type. How much has changed ever since I left?"

"This was just the first time." Squalo hissed, refusing to look up. "I'm very careful."

There was a short pause before Izanami started chuckling. "Don't worry, I was just teasing you." She shook her head. "And besides, I already gave Kuroo a sound scolding. I understand he can be a little too much sometimes."

"You did?" Squalo asked in surprise, lifting his head up and finally meeting her eyes.

"I did." Izanami beamed. "And I can tell you with confidence that he is very sorry for whatever it is that startled you last night. In fact, he will soon be here to offer his apology too."

Squalo felt a shiver run down his spine. _So even the Japanese brat didn't stand a chance against his own mother, how frightening._

" _Oka-san, who is he_?" Kyoya interrupted Squalo's line of thought. " _I want to kamikorosu._ "

" _Kyoya, no._ " Izanami lightly pinched his cheek. " _This is Squalo. He is as good as your older brother, alright_?"

(Squalo would deny feeling all warm and fuzzy when she'd referred to him as her own son because he did not do warm and fuzzy— he was going to join an assassination squad soon enough for god's sake!)

" _Another Kuroo_?" Kyoya sounded displeased.

Squalo raised a brow. Did the Japanese brat's younger brother hate him too?

(Oh how wrong Squalo would later come to learn he had been.)

" _More or less_." Izanami laughed.

The door suddenly opened again to reveal Kuroo.

_Speak of the devil._

"Ah, you've finally arrived." Izanami nodded. "Come over here now and say you're sorry to Squalo."

The silver haired teen had been expecting a protest or something of the like, so he was rather taken aback when the raven simply shrugged and replied with a, "Sure."

Squalo couldn't help but narrow his eyes as the boy approached his bed rather normally.

"I apologize for being so honest last night. I was just trying to carry on the line in which you had started the conversation, I didn't think you would have such a," Kuroo paused, "such a _violent_ reaction to it."

Squalo deadpanned. "You call that an apology?"

"You want something else?" Kuroo raised an eyebrow.

And then suddenly, before the silver haired teen could voice out a reply, the Japanese brat leaned in and _pecked_ his cheek before drawing back with a cheeky smile.

"A kiss to heal your boo-boo?" Kuroo faked a gasp. "Oh my, was that your _first_ kiss?"

It took a second for reality to really settle down upon Squalo.

Another to forget that Izanami was in the room.

And one more for him to lunge out of bed and after Kuroo who was already halfway out the room.

" _Voi_! Come back here you _fucking_ brat!"

 

* * *

 

 

Casimir DeLauro watched in interest at the two boys who seemed to be sparring in the open space of the orchard.

Perhaps a "spar" was not the right word, seeing how one of them was busy jabbing his sword at the other who, in a very impressive display of stealth, dodged every move without even seeming to break a sweat.

He heard his nephew's laughter ring out clearly in amusement.

This only appeared to enrage the silver haired teen who was growing angrier by the second.

Squalo had a lot of pride, so losing to a boy who had insulted his way of fighting just the last night was not something he was going to accept easily.

Casimir had been returning from the winery when he'd heard Squalo's loud cursing. That was what had drawn him over to be a spectator of the scene before him from the shade of the fruit trees, in a spot where he wouldn't be noticed by either of them.

The boys had most likely been at it since the whole afternoon, he discerned.

"Hibari Kuroo." He hummed to himself as his eyes followed his nephew's fluid movements.

The boy looked more like he was performing a dance rather than fighting; always sticking on to defense and never once shifting to offense. Somehow, his nephew seemed far too graceful for someone his age— it all but appeared unreal.

Hibari Kuroo had a lot of potential.

All he needed now was just to _harvest it right._

Some more time had passed when Squalo gave out a triumphant roar as his blade drew a long red line across the boy's cheek.

The silver haired teen declared they weren't finished before stumbling back to the mansion to "take care of some business".

Kuroo simply huffed and followed him, calling after the other in a teasing tone.

"Oh, it's already over."

Casimir had decided to head back too but stopped short when the raven suddenly turned around with narrowed eyes. He remained still as his nephew seemed to scan the area with suspicion before shrugging it off and leaving.

Casimir felt his lips quirk up in a smirk.

He'd just witnessed something rather interesting. His nephew was very sharp, no doubt, but that wasn't it.

It was the cut; the wound inflicted on his cheek by Squalo, the long and ugly bleeding red line—

_Gone,_ as if it had already healed.

"How very curious."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos, comments, bookmarks and subscriptions! Very much appreciated :')
> 
> And thanks for reading this!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> deleted four thousand words of this chapter because it wasn't going as planned and redid everything from scratch again. Hi. I'm still alive :')
> 
> And this chapter might be a little fast paced. Cause I wanted to get it out to you guys as fast as I coul— yeah. I'm making excuses.
> 
> ALSO, TWO CANON CHARACTERS APPEAR. TAKE A GUESS!

16\. Surprises.

 

Hibari Kyoya yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"Are you sleepy, Kyoya?"

"Hnn," he nodded.

They were out in the open space of the gardens, currently lazing around after the afternoon tea held at the gazebo.

Kyoya was seated under the shade of a tree, wrapped in a shawl to keep warm since he didn't really like the idea of having to sunbath to beat the winter chills.

He wondered how his brother could go about in such light clothing. But then, with all the fighting he'd been doing with the loud boy, Kuroo would feel too hot with warmer clothes on.

They did that quite a lot these days, the fighting.

"Kyoya, you should go get a cup of hot chocolate if you're cold."

He shook his head with another yawn. "'M fine."

The raven turned his focus over to Kuroo's strange friend who was seated beside him. "Are you cold?"

She laughed. "Of course not. I'm fine. I don't feel anything, really."

Kyoya seemed to readily accept her reply.

The lady, Sepira, was very strange— apart from Kuroo, he was the only one who could see her. She was definitely not human despite looking like one. But she wasn't entirely a ghost like the ones he would hear people talk about either.

She had always been there since he could remember; Kyoya didn't know how and where she had come from though.

_Did she not have a family?_

But Kuroo had accepted her in like one of them, so Kyoya decided not to ponder much upon it.

He yawned again.

All this thinking was making him sleepy.

Kyoya pulled the shawl tighter around him as he shut his eyes.

Maybe he would just take a short nap.

"Sleep well, Kyoya."

He hummed in reply.

 _Will I stop seeing her someday?_ —was his last thought before he slipped into a world of dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

"What a shame Kyoya had to come down with a fever today of all days." Kuroo sighed as lazily poked at a bunch of key chains that hung in a corner.

They had stopped by a souvenir shop during their stroll through the city. _Tante_ had instructed them to fetch a handful of gifts for people they knew back home. Hence the three of them, Squalo, _Tonton_ Casimir and Kuroo were now on a mission.

One which neither of them seemed particularly enthusiastic on carrying out.

"I'm rather glad he's down and not going around trying to bite me." Squalo snorted as he walked past him.

"Careful what you say about my baby brother in front of me." Kuroo said. "I cannot assure you that I will leave you unharmed."

He paused for a moment, long enough to make Squalo regret his words.

"Or perhaps," the raven head smirked, _"I'm_ the one you want going around trying to _bite_ you?"

"Are you even a kid?" Squalo asked as he felt a vein pop. If he ended up dying an early death, he didn't doubt one bit that the Japanese brat would be the reason behind it.

" _Chissà,_ " Kuroo laughed, " _forse sono solo un vecchio italiano che finge di essere un bambino_."

_("Who knows, maybe I'm just an old Italian man pretending to be a kid.")_

Squalo rolled his eyes before walking into another aisle.

Kuroo followed along, having nothing better to do. His eyebrows rose as he watched the silver haired teen pull out an envelope from his pocket.

"Is that what came in for you in the mail the day before?" Kuroo asked as got on the tips of his toes to peek over Squalo's shoulder.

"Voi, mind your own business!" Squalo exclaimed as he shoved the envelope back into his pocket, not expecting the sudden intrusion.

"Why? Is it a love letter?" Kuroo's lips quirked.

The raven head couldn't resist teasing despite already knowing what the letter contained.

Now, Kuroo wasn't one to open up other people's letters but Sepira had forced her hand on this one.

("The famiglia is a part of your fate, tied to you like a curse.")

That and when Kuroo had caught sight of the unmistakable emblem stamped on the front of the envelope— gold linings with patches of blue, the Vongola Famiglia's insignia— he had become very curious.

Sepira had told him to closely stick around Squalo ever since, for this was going to be an important event for (as she so dramatically put it) both their lives.

"Do you always have to poke your nose into other people's businesses?"

"Then is it some invitation?" Kuroo pressed on. "A birthday party?"

"What's going on here?" _Tonton_ Casimir appeared before them, wearing a slight frown. "Don't start fighting in this shop."

" _Tonton,_ Squalo's taking me along to his friend's birthday party today," Kuroo turned to his Uncle with a beaming smile, "so I was telling him a basket of chocolates from that shelf over there would make a good present."

"Birthday party?" Casimir raised a brow.

"N—"

"Yes!" Kuroo exclaimed as he subtly elbowed the silver haired teen. "I can go with him, can't I?"

Casimir seemed to think over it. "Of course, if you return early. Squalo knows the area well enough so I wouldn't have to worry about either of you getting lost."

"Thank you!" Kuroo chirped before marching over to grab the basket of chocolates he'd been eyeing ever since they'd entered the shop.

Squalo spluttered before heaving a deep sigh. "Alright. Fine." He muttered to himself. "I'll take him along but not all the way in."

In another five minutes, the three of them were gathered at the counter with their haul of whatever they thought would make good souvenirs— sans Kuroo who was rather preoccupied with the basket of chocolates.

"Did you stuff some extras into the basket?" Casimir slowly asked.

"Well, it wouldn't kill." Kuroo shrugged in reply.

"Actually, too much consumption of chocolate can cause death." Squalo said.

"And you think I'm buying this all for myself?" Kuroo scoffed earning a _'really?'_ look from the teen.

"Boys, let's pay up and have the two of you sent off to this birthday party now so you can return early." Casimir interrupted. "Though it's rather strange..." He trailed off, seeming quite unsure.

"I know." Kuroo nodded. "I never would have thought anyone wanted someone like Squalo in their birthday party. Whatever even _possessed_ them with such a thought...but oh well."

" _Voi!_ "

They took a taxi after they were done; Casimir giving them a funny look at the mention of the address where the so-called "birthday party" was taking place.

He'd wanted to drop them off himself but was unable to do so because of some prior engagements.

It didn't take them long before they reached their destination.

"Look, you take yourself to the amusement park fifteen minutes away from here." Squalo said once the taxi dropped them off not too far from the gates of the luxury hotel the event was being held in.

"Why?" Kuroo raised a brow.

"You can even keep the chocolates." Squalo continued. "Just wait there for an hour and we'll head back right after I'm done here."

"But _why_?" He pressed.

"Because this invite only admits one." Squalo replied. "So you—"

"Wait in the amusement park for you to finish whatever you're hoping to get through with." Kuroo said. "And keep the chocolates all to myself too. Got it."

Squalo paused, a look of surprise flashing through his eyes.

He had believed the boy would take more convincing to stay away. A part of his brain nagged at him, telling him this was too easy to be true. But Squalo had far more important matters to tend to right now then listen to his brain.

"Alright." Squalo nodded.

"Enjoy!" Kuroo smiled _very_ pleasantly as he waved him off.

Squalo should've known better. The brat was a lying two-faced monster who was not an average kid, after all.

Five minutes later, he was swallowed up by the crowd at the gala.

He wandered around, hands in his pockets as he kept an eye out for important people of the Vongola and perhaps the Varia too.

Squalo had worked hard for this invite.

Only the top five students with outstanding performances in the academic year in his school were given the privilege of being invited to Vongola's Annual Winter Gala usually held in Italy.

They had shifted the venue to France this time around (and much to Squalo's convenience) due to some conflict happening back home.

He needed to establish connections. The earlier the better seeing how he was also going challenge the famed Sword Emperor, and the current head of the Varia— Tyr, to a duel.

Fighting with the man was a requirement since he wanted to join the Varia.

And so, Squalo needed all the additional information (he already knew quite enough about the man) he could salvage before the match.

He stopped at a table to get himself a glass of some fruity drink they were serving.

Walking around the hotel's massive compound where the party had been set up had made him tired. Not to mention, weaving through the crowd that had gathered. He had been shoved and pushed quite a couple of times, much to his annoyance.

Just as he was about to turn away, however, a loud crash close to him attracted his attention.

He turned to find a young tanned boy (probably around the same age as himself) with furious crimson eyes and raven hair, flinging the food on the table away in a fit of anger.

Squalo seemed surprised.

Was this kid crazy!? What the fuck was he doing in the party of none other than the Vongola!?

Surely, he was asking to be killed!

But no one from the crowd seemed to be willing to step out and stop him.

"Oh, that's Nono's boy."

"The Ninth's youngest?"

"They can't even keep him calm—"

"Careful! Don't let him hear you, they say he's already sent many to the hospital for talking about him, regardless of who they are."

"They say even his brothers don't like—"

"I hear he is—"

"—could be an illegitimate—"

Suddenly, there was a shot fired in the direction of where the gossip had gotten a little too loud. Screams erupted and people scattered away from the spot as a man crumpled down to the ground, bleeding.

"Scum." The boy still had his gun pointed at the fallen man, eyes burning with rage. "Watch what you _fucking_ say or the next time I fire, I'll aim between _your eyes._ "

Squalo sucked in his breath at the pure killing intent that suddenly filled the air, heavy and choking.

His eyes were filled with awe as he stared at the boy who simply turned and kicked the table down.

_So this was Xanxus._

A few guards of the Vongola had appeared by then, some of them guiding out the injured man while others surrounded the boy before ushering him away.

"Impressive." Squalo muttered to himself as he watched the boy leave.

It was a display of pure rage.

With nothing holding it back.

"Careful, people might think you've fallen in love with the born to rage baby."

"Shut up." Squalo growled in irritation as he turned around to glare at Kuroo—

 _WAIT._   _A_. _FUCKING. SECOND._

"How the—" Squalo struggled to find the right words as he immediately grabbed the boy by his shirt collar.

Kuroo simply laughed. "Kufufu, ma~gic!"

"What did you do—"

"Superbi Squalo." A nasal voice interrupted the two from the side. "Stirring up trouble?"

The two turned to face the newcomer; a female with her hair tied up in two ponytails, dressed in a plaited skirt and a matching shirt. She had her arms crossed against her chest and a frown on her face.

Squalo refrained from rolling his eyes.

_Teresa, rank number three and a thorn on his side._

"Definitely not a girlfriend." Kuroo whispered as Squalo loosened his grip on him.

"Showing up only to cause a scene." She sneered. "I see."

"What do you want?" Squalo asked with an irritated huff.

"Don't kill anyone. I'll be back soon!" Kuroo cheerfully said as he stepped away and into the crowd before Squalo could drag him back and question him.

While he wouldn't have minded staying just to tease the silver haired teen, he had other things to do. Like find someone who had caught his attention earlier.

A little girl to be precise.

He had been looking around for her before he'd spotted Squalo and decided to surprise him.

While the little girl he was looking for wasn't anyone he recognized from his past life, she did possess a certain something that he had once owned and it piqued his curiosity. Hence why Kuroo was determined to find her.

Just as he paused to take in his surroundings after walking to the other end of the compound, he was rudely shoved at by a person— resulting in the both of them to tumble right through the hedge of some decorative expensive plant behind Kuroo and over to the other side.

The person, a teen with blond hair, groaned as he pushed himself up and massaged his head.

"I'd appreciate it if you got off me." Kuroo said in a tight and controlled voice.

The teen yelped in fright as he quickly scrambled up to his feet. "I'm so sorry!"

Kuroo slapped away the hand that was offered to help him up as he stood up on his own and dusted off the leaves caught onto his clothes. He looked at the teen responsible for the mess with a glare.

The teen had almost fluffy blond hair and light colored brown eyes that were filled with terror as they met Kuroo's narrowed ones. Dressed in a well tailored suit, he looked sharp if not for his overall appearance that just exuded the aura of... _a golden retriever._

 _A golden retriever puppy._ To be exact.

And someone very familiar too, though Kuroo couldn't really place a finger on who this teen was.

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to push you down." The blond sincerely apologized in Italian, his eyes downcast.

Kuroo was tempted to pretend he didn't understand just to make the teen feel more guilty.

"Watch where you're going next time." He simply replied instead.

"I—"

"Oh! We're allowed to go behind the bushes?" A young voice interrupted the blond, followed by the sound of rustling and a few branches of the expensive hedge snapping.

In the next moment, the two boys found themselves in the company of a little girl with dark hair in a bob and over-inquisitive olive green eyes.

 _Ah,_ Kuroo thought. _Found her._

"Hi!" She greeted them with a wide smile. "Oh wow, this feels like Narnia."

"Uhm, hello." The blond greeted back hesitantly.

"My name is Connie!" She said, looking at them expectantly as though waiting for them to say something in reply. Connie stuck out her fingers. "And I just turned seven!"

"I'm Valentino, but I prefer being called Dino." The blond replied and that's when it hit Kuroo.

_The Cavallone Decimo._

The raven looked at the teen again. He hadn't recognized him immediately before because the blond seemed so different. Kuroo did hear that the Cavallone Decimo had been quite a wimp when he was younger.

"Why Dino and not Tino?" Connie asked, tilting her head to the side.

Somehow, Kuroo found himself just as curious. Well, he hadn't even known that the Cavallone Decimo's full name was Valentino in the first place.

The blond blinked. "I...prefer it that way?" He didn't seem too sure of it himself.

"Oh, okay. Don't call me Cone, I like my name as it is." She said before gesturing a hand to the raven head beside her. "And you are?"

"Kuroo." He replied.

"Nice to meet you!" She beamed. "I hope you won't mind me butting into your friendship, _Tío_  says it's rude."

"You're Spanish?" Dino asked quizzically.

"We're not friends." Kuroo huffed at he same time.

"Yes." She nodded.

"You're too young to be wandering on your own in a gala like this." Kuroo said, ignoring the _'Aren't you too?'_ look that Dino threw him.

" _Tío's_ somewhere, he just told me to stay in a corner and wait for him."

Huh, sounds familiar. Kuroo raised a brow.

"Did you come with anyone else apart from your uncle?" Dino asked.

"My _mamá_ is busy. She had to go for her job and I'm not supposed to be left alone at home so Tío brought me along." Connie added in an afterthought. "She works with eyes."

"Is she an eye doctor?" Dino asked, keeping with the flow of the conversation.

"Uhm, do eye doctors take really good care of people's eyes?" She furrowed her brows.

"They do." Kuroo nodded. "If we're going to continue talking, why don't we find a place to sit down?"

"I guess she's an eye doctor then." Connie said as she plopped down on the grass.

"We're sitting here?" Dino asked as he too settled down comfortably a moment later.

Kuroo followed the action. His eyes involuntarily flicked over to the ring (which had an eyeball in its center rather than some precious stone) that hung round her neck by a silver chain as he did.

_Malocchio._

One of the only six Hell Rings in the world.

And one that he had possessed in his past life.

While Kuroo didn't really remember how the ring came into his possession, he was sure a little girl such as the one before him never possessed it in the first place. Did she even know what the ring was?

Connie seemed to have noticed his stare. "Oh, this is my _mamá's._ She gave it to me for good luck." Her little fingers toyed with the chain. "It's the eye of an adventurer who never blinked since he was born. He gouged his eye out at his deathbed so that he could continue gazing at the world."

Kuroo nodded, already familiar with the story.

"That's a real eyeball?" Dino's face scrunched up. "Aren't you uncomfortable wearing it then?"

"Of course not." She looked surprised. "I already have three jars filled with pretty eyes by my bed. Why would _just one_ eyeball make me uncomfortable?"

There was a pregnant pause.

" _Excuse me_!?" Dino gasped.

"Where do the eyeballs come from?" Kuroo asked curiously.

"Well, bad people try to kill us so _mamá_ takes care of them—"

Dino interrupted. " _Wait,_ I thought you said your mother was an eye doctor!"

"Yeah. She takes care of their eyes." Connie blinked innocently. "Brings them back home and keeps them in nice glass jars. _Tío_  always grumbles about them because he says it's not nice to take eyeballs as...as, uhm, what was that called? Ah, trophies from her kills."

Both boys stared at each other for a moment before turning back to the girl.

"Is that information you should even be sharing?" Dino managed to squeak out.

"Why not?" Connie cocked her head to the side. "Aren't you my friends? _Mamá_ said friends tell each other secrets."

"Yes? I guess?" Dino replied.

Kuroo smirked. This was quite a turn of events, alright. He decided retrieving the ring now could wait; the current owner seemed quite interesting.

After quite a while, the three broke away from the idle conversation they had plunged into when some of the Cavallone men passed by the hedges, presumably searching for their young Master and a strange digital object strapped onto Connie's wrist (much like a watch but not quite, it did seem advanced though) began blinking multicolored lights.

"Ah, _Tío's_  calling me." She said as Dino hurriedly got to his feet (without tripping) to get to his people before they caused a scene about him having gone missing.

The blond gave quick goodbyes and stumbled out of the hedge.

"It was nice meeting you." Kuroo simply said as he too got to his feet.

"I'm sure we'll meet again." Connie smiled. "Though I do hope it won't be in an unfortunate event of _mamá_ bringing home your eyeballs." She frowned. "I hope not, because you have _really pretty_ eyes. And I would prefer meeting you with your eyeballs intact. I'll tell her not to!"

Kuroo blinked. "Thank you."

"Bye!" She waved as she made her way out of the hedge.

The raven decided it was time he too went in search of his, ah, cousin, seeing how an hour had already passed by.

He didn't have to look though.

Squalo found him first, saving him the trouble of a search.

The older grabbed him by the arm and practically _dragged_ him out of the venue, not that Kuroo minded because it was fun seeing the silver haired teen being pushed to the edge.

"Stay by my side." Squalo instructed as they walked down the road, heading to some corner where they could catch a cab. "And don't you _dare_ disappear off like that again or your mother will likely have my head for bringing you home late."

"My mother is a kind woman." Kuroo chose to say.

Squalo felt a vein pop. "How did you even get in anyway?"

"I bribed the guard with the chocolates." Kuroo answered smoothly without hesitation.

"You're lying."

"Or am I?"

The street, Kuroo abruptly observed, seemed strangely quiet.

"...did you kill anyone?"

Kuroo burst out laughing, only adding to Squalo's uneasiness. "Kufufu, like I said before," he said between gasps for breaths, "it's ma~gic."

Squalo opened his mouth to retort when something suddenly flickered behind him. The silver haired teen stumbled forward, his eyes wide in surprise before falling to the ground, unconscious.

Kuroo automatically shifted to a fighting stance as he felt a cooling sensation settle down around them.

_Ah, an illusion._

And he recognized it as quite a strong one. The very thought of it excited him; it wasn't everyday he came across an illusionist of caliber that he acknowledged.

Why did they attack the silver haired teen though?

Did Squalo have people targeting him? But he wasn't anyone of much significance as of yet, so why was he attacked?

He narrowed his eyes as the attacker stepped into his line of sight from the edge of the illusionary space they had created.

Tall, and probably a male, Kuroo observed from the lean and sturdy figure that exuded confidence. They had most of their face covered up, hood pulled low, like the rest of their body.

From the aura they exuded, the person before him knew that they were dangerous and seemed to wear the fact like a cloak around them with pride.

"What do you want?" Kuroo asked, eyes narrowed.

A grin, which Kuroo decided was irritating, stretched out on their face.

"You." The person spoke, and Kuroo confirmed they were a male from their low and deep tone.

Kuroo didn't wait for an elaboration as he pushed himself off the ground in a split second, propelling himself forward, ready to deliver a powerful kick.

A smirk split on his lips as his leg passed through thin air and the illusion of the person dispersed.

He spun his body around in air much like a cat, not being deterred by the trick, and executed a sharp roundhouse kick.

_CRACK!_

Kuroo landed on his feet, smirk still on as he watched the person materialize, staggering a few steps back and nursing a broken arm that had been brought up in the last second to shield his head from the kick.

"Very good." The person frowned but sounded impressed. He had clearly not been expecting to be found out.

Illusions came easily to Kuroo as breathing did, so figuring out someone else's illusions was merely a piece of cake to him.

Kuroo didn't rest, instead, launching to an immediate array of attacks on his attacker. The other didn't hesitate either, meeting him head on despite the broken arm.

His opponent was good.

Illusionists were never the type to go on offensive tactics and usually relied on their illusions, Kuroo being an exception now because of his training under Fon.

But his opponent seemed trained to a certain extent too.

Blocking attacks one after the other, taking a few hits and occasionally landing a few on Kuroo too.

Kuroo back flipped and slammed his hands on the ground, bringing forth gigantic carnivorous plants that shot up and wrapped themselves around the other.

The person only laughed before tearing right through his bindings and forcing Kuroo's own illusion against himself.

Kuroo frowned lightly as he easily sliced the plants away with a scythe he materialized into his hand.

_This man was not an ordinary illusionist._

He resorted to close combat again, this time with a little taste of his Mist flames. The indigo flames coating his fists as he quickly landed punches on man in a repetitive manner as the last time.

"It's useless." The other chuckled as he blocked the punches, well versed with where they were going to land this time.

It didn't matter that most of them were blocked, all Kuroo needed was to get a few punches in, and that he did.

He kicked himself back, using the other's body as a support and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the residue of the mist flames that had caught on to the man's clothes earlier, transformed into firm iron bars that wrapped themselves tightly around him.

The man fell stiffly to the ground, arms sticking firmly to his body and legs bound together, with a low groan.

Kuroo made sure the other wasn't going to easily break out of his bindings this time.

He walked toward him and crouched down. "Now, who are you?"

Kuroo drew back the hood to reveal a man with dark hair, a hooked nose and brown eyes. Nobody he knew. Of course.

But that was because the face the person wore was just an illusion.

Kuroo hummed as he dispelled the illusion—

"Well done, Kuroo."

—revealing light blond hair, high cheekbones and laughing blue eyes.

_Casimir DeLauro._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING! HAH!
> 
> What does dear Tonton Casimir want now? (For those who forgot, he's Kuroo's uncle and Tante Alison's brother). Hmm. And what do you think of the people who popped up in this chapter? :'3
> 
> Right. According to canon, Squalo first met Xanxus in a gathering and was impressed with his rage (lmao, how cute is that?) so I tried reenacting that.
> 
> (I'm not even going to apologize for the delay cause all I have are just excuses, whoops!)
> 
> A big thank you for all the feedback! :')))


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half of a chapter from Kyoya's perspective, for all those who adore the little five year old demon. And this is more or less a wrap up of what I call, the "France Arc", lmao.

17\. Au revoir, France.

 

Surprised?

No.

That was an understatement.

If anything, Kuroo was _shocked._

Sure, Casimir had always been quite a sketchy person right from the start. But him turning out to be an illusionist Kuroo actually went on to acknowledge?!

Kuroo stared blankly at the man whose smile only grew wider.

"I am surprised you ended up being a very capable illusionist." Casimir chuckled. _(Oh, the irony.)_ "I had assumed Izanami was too weak to pass on the _family trait_ to her son."

"Family trait?" Kuroo raised a brow.

"Our bloodline has always brought out illusionists, though ones not as strong as I," he paused for a moment, "and now, you."

"What's the big deal of attacking Squalo and me?" Kuroo frowned, cutting to the chase.

"I have a proposal for you, nephew. This was just a, ah, _test_ to see if you were worth it."

"And what if I'm not interested?"

Casimir chuckled again. "Oh, I don't think you'll want to brush this aside too quickly." His blue orbs met Kuroo's stormy bluish-grey ones. "But first, be a dear and undo these bindings, won't you?"

Kuroo was tempted to just leave his _tonton_ and walk away with Squalo in tow, but paused. Perhaps this was a part of Sepira's premonition?

He snapped his fingers again, the iron bars dissolving into nothing.

Casimir sat up while nursing his wrists.

"Well, what is it?" Kuroo asked.

The man gave a smile that unsettled him. "I want you to be—"

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"Did he die?" Hibari Kyoya asked with a sniff as he leaned against his brother for support. His fever had come down by the evening, thankfully.

Kuroo snorted. "No, Kyo-chan. He's just unconscious."

"So he's sleeping?"

"Sort of."

They had managed to make it back to the château in Casimir's car with no further drama, Squalo sprawled out in the backseat while the two took the front.

_Squalo had tripped_   _and banged his head._

_Again._

The story was simple and easily accepted by Izanami and Alison who immediately ushered the unconscious boy onto the bed in the guest room.

Kuroo had been instructed to wait by the silver haired teen's side and call one of the adults when he woke up.

So here he was now, with Kyoya who had somehow found him.

"Will he wake up?" Kyoya asked as he shifted to press his whole weight against his brother. It was tiring, standing up.

Kuroo wrapped his arms around the younger's shoulders to steady him. "Hopefully soon."

"Does he _have_ to wake up?" Kyoya wrinkled his nose.

Kuroo laughed.

"He should just sleep forever." Kyoya mumbled. "I don't like him."

And of course he had every reason not to like the loud boy. He was always making Kuroo busy, taking him away from Kyoya.

Kyoya didn't appreciate waking up in the afternoon only to find out that his brother wasn't in the house.

"Don't let mother hear you." Kuroo lightly pinched the younger one's cheek. "She'll think I'm the one teaching you such things."

"Sorry." Kyoya didn't sound sorry at all.

"Come, let's sit on the couch." Kuroo suggested as he tugged the little demon away to more comfortable arrangements.

"Is Kuroo tired?"

"I am, it's been a long day."

"Oh." Kyoya nodded as he settled comfortably next to his older brother. "Tell me a story."

Kuroo bit back his sigh. Clearly, his brother didn't understand what he meant when he said he was tired. "Can't we just cuddle and doze off?"

"But the loud boy is sleeping too."

"I don't understand your sense of reasoning." Kuroo huffed. "Did you play with your tonfas today?"

"There was no one to play with." Kyoya sulked, mood turning sour at the reminder that he had been alone for most of the day.

Kuroo smirked. "Kufufu, so you missed me." He pulled the boy into his embrace and mumbled into his soft hair. "You're much better when you're quiet and sulking, honestly."

"Hmm?" Kyoya tilted his head up with a questioning look.

"Nothing. Just sit still, and doze off."

"But I want a story." The stubborn raven ground his teeth together, a sign that he might start biting something (Kuroo's hand, in this case) soon.

"Hmm…alright." Kuroo began after a moment's thought. "I met a puppy today."

"A puppy?" Kyoya perked up. He had a thing for little animals.

"Yes. A golden fluffy puppy." Kuroo continued. "Very clumsy and annoying, he knocked me over— _why_ are you grinning?"

"A strong puppy." Kyoya seemed to approve.

"No. Just foolishly clumsy. There's a difference between being strong and being a total wimp who goes around clumsily pushing other people down."

"But puppy pushed you down." Kyoya shook his head. "Can I meet the puppy? Keep it as a pet?"

"Not yet. But you will meet the puppy when you're older." Kuroo hummed in thought.

"But puppy will be a dog."

"A strong one, Kyo-chan. You'll enjoy playing with it, I promise."

"Can I keep—" Kyoya's eyes shifted over to the bed. "He's waking up."

"Go call mother or _tante,_ won't you?" Kuroo rose to his feet, helping his younger brother up as well. "He will be pretty loud when he wakes and you know you don't like that."

"Okay."

Kuroo went over to the teen's side as he listened to his brother's footsteps pitter-patter away.

"Good morning."

Squalo who had had his eyes opened for a few seconds already, snapped to attention on hearing Kuroo's voice. He tried to sit up but groaned and plopped back onto the bed.

"It's not morning, you fucker."

"And it's not a good idea for you to be sitting up at all right now." Kuroo said.

"The fuck happened..."

"You drank a little too much of the punch, got tipsy and fell face first on to the ground." Kuroo chirped. "I found a phone, called _tonton_ and so here you are now, safe in the comforts of home."

There was a pause as Squalo took it all in, and probably thought it over too. "Voi, don't lie to me. I did not get drunk."

"I promise I'm not lying."

"I was knocked out." Squalo said with a frown.

"Yes, by hitting your head hard against the concrete."

"No, by someone from—"

"Squalo!" _Tante_ exclaimed as she barged into the room looking quite fierce.

The said teen muttered a string of colorful curses in Italian under his breath.

"Going about drinking punch at a birthday party and getting drunk, _stupide_!" The woman scolded. "Imagine what would've happened if Kuroo wasn't around! You'd be lying on the floor with no one to help you return back home! I thought you were more responsible than this."

"I. Did. Not. Get. Drunk." Squalo said through gritted teeth as he threw Kuroo a look that promised pain.

The raven simply offered a shrug in reply.

He walked out of the room as _tante_ continued on with her rant. Best leave before he too got dragged into the mess, he thought.

Kuroo ran into his mother on his way out, his younger brother balanced on her hip and playing with her hair.

"Kuroo, be with Kyoya for sometime won't you?" Izanami said as she shifted Kyoya into her oldest son's arms. "I'll have to talk with your cousin."

"Sure." He replied with a pleased smile as he wrapped his arms protectively around his younger brother. "Take _all_ the time you want."

"He's a little hungry, so go get him something from the kitchen." She instructed. "But nothing unhealthy alright? He's still recovering from the fever."

"Okay."

"Can I eat an apple?" Kyoya asked as he rested his head on the crook of his brother's neck.

"If that's what you want." Kuroo nodded.

"Sepira said apples keep doctors away."

"No point keeping the doctor away when you're sick, Kyoya. The apples should be eaten so that you _don't_ fall sick, did you know that?"

"So when I'm sick, I shouldn't eat apple?"

Kuroo gave a small laugh. "You're becoming very talkative. Is that a trait of growing up?"

Kyoya furrowed his brows. "Is that bad?"

"No." Kuroo smiled as he pressed a soft kiss on to his brother's forehead in one of his rare displays of affection. "No. That's not bad, that's just fine."

"Okay." Kyoya hummed in contentment.

"Now, let's go get an apple for you."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_"I want you to be my apprentice."_

Kuroo walked down the gravel pathway leading to the DeLauro winery within the château's grounds. Dinner was to be served in about two more hours, Kyoya was asleep and Squalo was off in some corner probably tending to his sword— which meant that he had two hours by himself.

The rays of the setting sun filtered through the trees that lined the path, giving off a somber feeling.

Kuroo stifled a yawn.

It had been a long day indeed.

And now, he had to meet with his tonton.

"An apprentice." Kuroo mumbled to himself.

Did he mean an apprentice in the art of illusions? Or something else? Casimir had not given him a straight answer, just a, _"Drop by the winery in the evening. You'll know where to find me once you get there."_

The old winery stood tall, holding a unique presence about itself despite the obvious wearing down with age.

Kuroo pushed open the wooden doors and stepped in.

The place was quiet except for the creaking of doors shut, and his _tonton_ was nowhere in sight.

He walked around for a bit, passing by the metal tanks and the old equipment for processing the grapes from the vineyard. Then, on finding stairs leading down to the cellar, paused before taking it.

The cellar seemed as old as the building, with no new technological additions and replacements unlike the first floor. It was filled with many sturdy large oak barrels stacked up by the wall, leaving little space on the side, all the way to the end of the cellar passageway.

Except, it wasn't really the end of the cellar.

Kuroo's sharp eyes caught sight of a very light flickering image of a door on what was supposed to be a wall, a dead end.

His feet carried him over to it.

When he placed his hand upon the door handle, the illusion that cloaked it momentarily disappeared, allowing him access to whatever lay behind the door.

Kuroo hummed as he shut the door behind him before taking a good look at the room he had just entered.

It wasn't too small of a space but neither was it big, and was surprisingly brightly lit with lighting in all four of its corners.

There were also a great number of shelves that covered up two of the walls— fully stacked with what appeared to be files, and a few books.

A large white board took up the space of the third wall, with pictures of people and maps pinned up on it (most of which were crisscrossed in red) and neat writings below them.

He walked over to it to get a better look.

"Liking my abode?"

Casimir's voice snapped Kuroo back to reality.

He turned around to see his _tonton_ leaning against one of the shelves, eyes watching him like a hawk. How Kuroo had not seen him earlier, he did not know.

"It's," Kuroo paused, "not too shabby."

Casimir laughed at the reply. "Of course not." He straightened his posture before walking over to his nephew in five long strides. "I would never allow my workplace to be shabby."

Kuroo turned his attention back to the board with a hum. "So...you're a hitman."

"Assassin." Casimir smoothly corrected, unfazed by how quickly his nephew had joined the dots. "I'm not tied to any syndicate, I just take up contracts from here and there to kill."

"And you want me to be your apprentice." Kuroo dryly completed.

"Exactly."

"You do know I'm _just_ a child—"

"I would highly doubt you were a child" _(Kuroo's eyes briefly narrowed at the statement)_ "because you seem all too brilliant. But because prodigies actually exist, I can draw to a conclusion that you're one of a kind." Casimir's smile was sharp. "And my nephew as well. So I thought why not?"

"...what makes you think I'm even capable of killing?"

"You've been trained in martial arts ever since a young age, you fight without flinching, injuries don't exact much of a reaction out of you." Casimir listed. "And when you spar with your cousin, you land your hits close to sending him six feet under the ground. Only, you _hold_ back."

Kuroo's furrowed his brows at the new-found knowledge that Casimir had been _watching_ him.

"Most importantly, you're apathetic to all things sans anything that involves your little brother and possibly your parents."

"You're creepy." Kuroo replied.

Casimir laughed. "Like you're any normal."

Kuroo took his time to leisurely walk around the room, inspecting it and running his fingers across the collection of files and books.

"What if I say no?" He turned around as he got to the other end.

"I have my ways for making you say yes." Casimir shrugged.

"Are you threatening me?" Kuroo narrowed his eyes.

"Oh no, of course not." He shook his head. "I'm just...stating _facts_." Casimir continued. "Besides, this will be a brilliant opportunity for you to start learning how to get used to having blood on your hands. Your father is part of a rather infamous yakuza, the next heir to it, in fact— and seeing how you're his firstborn son, you'll eventually be spilling blood when you're older."

(Casimir was going to make sure the only answer he would be receiving was a "yes".)

Kuroo paused.

This was undeniably true.

But then, if he agreed to Casimir's proposal it would only mean he'd end up having _two_ uncles breathing down on him.

The raven head sighed as he brought up a hand to massage his temple. "Today has been a rather hectic day. I need to sleep over this."

Casimir smiled. "It's alright, we still have _a lot_ of time to sort this out."

"Aren't you worried I might go tattle about what you do behind your family's back?" Kuroo asked as moved to head out of the room.

His tonton's laughter echoed.

"Oh, believe me. You'd be long dead before you could even say a word."

And somehow, Kuroo knew Casimir really meant it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Mother said they would be leaving for home in three more days. She also said that Kyoya should be more patient and eat his lunch without fussing.

Which was exactly what he was doing right now.

His aunt Alison had cooked him up a nice omurice since Kyoya preferred eating what he was already accustomed to. And she had even neatly written _"herbivore"_ with sauce on it (because he ate herbivores for lunch).

It was a perfect way to start his afternoon, really!

But...

But Kuroo was missing.

_Again._

"Kyoya," Alison sighed as the sound of silverware sharply scratching against china echoed for the nth time, "don't be so rough with the utensils."

"'M not." Kyoya huffed.

" _Kyoya._ "

" _Voi!_ " A certain silver haired teen exclaimed as he sauntered into the dining hall. "What's for lunch?"

Kyoya perked up on hearing his voice. His steel-grey eyes fixed on the entrance even after Squalo had entered, gleaming with hope.

"See for yourself." Alison replied, tearing her attention away from the young raven head. "And don't forget to clean up after you're done."

Squalo muttered something in Italian before disappearing into the kitchen.

And Kyoya's shoulders sank when he realized his brother wasn't going to walk through the doors anytime soon..

"Where's Kuroo?" He asked when the silver haired teen took his seat.

"Huh?"

"Where. Is. Kuroo?"

"I don't know." Squalo rolled his eyes. "I haven't hidden him away so stop glaring at me."

"Hmph."

"Ah," Alison spoke up as if suddenly remembering something, "Kuroo's gone out with Casimir for some work so he'll be back late tonight. And I need to go pick a few things with Izanami, so Squalo—"

"Kuroo's gone?" Kyoya's face only soured at the news.

Squalo began. "I have a very bad feeling about what you're about to say—"

"I'm leaving Kyoya in your care."

" _Fuck_!"

"Language!"

"I'll bite you to death, herbivores."

So about an hour later...

"This is boring." Kyoya declared as he watched the silver haired teen delicately run a cloth through his— what was it called again?— _big shiny silver knife._

Squalo felt a vein pop. " _Voi,_ sword maintenance is not boring. It's a task that requires great skill and patience." The teen launched into a monologue that Kyoya decided to tune out.

"Can I touch it?"

"This is not some flimsy plastic toy."

"So can I touch it?"

"I meant no the first time."

"Why not?"

"You're asking too many questions."

"Kuroo said it's not a bad thing."

" _Voi!_ " Squalo yelled. "Shut up and do something else that doesn't involve asking questions!"

So Kyoya pulled out the tonfas from the inside of his sleeves.

Kuroo had showed him where to keep his tonfas cause it was more convenient having it on him than running back to his room every time he wanted to play with them.

He slipped off his chair and into the stance Uncle Fon had once taught him (when he'd stayed to watch Kuroo train) and began swinging his tonfas around.

"Those plastic?" Squalo asked, pausing his work.

He'd often seen the boy carrying those sticks around with him while never allowing anyone to touch it so he was curious.

"Strong," was Kyoya's simple reply before he turned around and viciously started attacking the chair he'd been sitting on not too long ago— as though in a demonstration.

"Hey. _Hey_!" Squalo quickly stood up, pointing his sword at the boy. "Stop that! You'll ruin the furniture!"

Kyoya stopped, a pout forming on his lips.

"But they're _strong._ " He insisted, lifting his tonfas as though to show it to Squalo.

"All I asked was if they were made of plastic, _goddammit_!"

"You said a bad word." Kyoya frowned.

"And you made me say it." Squalo groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Just when were the others returning? And how the fuck did they even take care of this demonic little five year old!?

"Calm down." Kyoya's eyebrows remained furrowed.

"That's big coming from you." Squalo huffed. "So when do you go off to sleep?"

"Hmm?"

"What time do you have your afternoon naps?"

"Why? Want to sleep with me?"

"What the—" Squalo facepalmed. "Gods, at least you're not your fucking brother. Fine. What do you wanna do then? Do you draw?"

"I can." Kyoya seemed to visibly brighten at the thought of drawing. "I'll bring my book."

Squalo blinked.

He hadn't expected the boy to easily comply— wait, why did this feel like _déjà_ _vu_? But Kyoya was definitely not someone like Kuroo. The younger raven seemed more of the "normal kid" from the two.

"You draw too." Kyoya said as he reentered the room and offered a second drawing book to the silver haired teen. "I have extra colors."

"I don't want to—"

"And extra pencils and erasers. Come." Kyoya pushed the book into the other's hands. "Draw." He said, no, _ordered._

"Fine." Squalo accepted it with a sigh. "Why do you have two drawing books anyway?"

"That one's Kuroo's."

"Heh." Squalo flipped through the pages of the drawing book. "He doesn't look like someone who would— _VOI_! _What the fuck_!?"

"Kuroo likes to draw." Kyoya chose to ignore Squalo's surprise. Honestly, it was more or less the same way everyone reacted whenever they saw Kuroo's drawings. No big deal.

"This— _what— who_!? Is he some fucking Van Gogh!?"

"Picasso."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

After dinner, Kyoya stood outside, waiting for his brother for at least fifteen minutes before Squalo dragged him back in while half yelling about him catching another fever.

So here he was, sitting on the window sill of the living room, face pressed to the glass and carefully looking out for his brother.

_Tante_ Alison and Izanami had left him to himself (after wrapping him up in a warm blanket) before heading upstairs. And of course, after telling Squalo to keep an eye on the boy.

The silver haired teen left the room in a short while, instructing Kyoya not to go outside because his brother would be upset if he did.

And Kyoya didn't want to upset Kuroo.

It was only later, when Kyoya was slowly nodding off, that his brother finally returned.

Kyoya's eyes had snapped open when his ears picked up the sound of footsteps outside.

He saw his uncle first before spotting his brother a few feet behind, seeming lost in his thoughts.

Kyoya got to the door and opened it before his uncle could. The man greeted him with raised brows and a look of mild surprise.

"Well, what do we have here?" Casimir bend over and ruffled the younger raven's hair.

"' _scuse,_ I need to see Kuroo." Kyoya made a face.

While Casimir was nice, Kyoya wasn't really liking the man right now.

Casimir chuckled. "Such a vigilant guard dog." He straightened up and allowed the boy to run past him. "Just like someone I know."

Kyoya barreled right into Kuroo who ended up toppling to the ground, having not expected the sudden assault.

"You left me alone again." Kyoya looked pissed, his teeth grinding. "There was no one to play with."

Kuroo blinked once, twice, and then laughed as his arms came to wrap around his brother. "Kufufu, Kyo-chan. Were you waiting for me?"

"Hmph."

"Your nii-chan is sorry for being late." Kuroo hummed. "There were just a few people I had to take care of."

"Take care?" Kyoya wrinkled his nose.

"Yes." Kuroo smiled. "Come on, get up. It's cold out here. Also—"

"There's blood on your cheek." Kyoya pointed out as his eyes narrowed on the dark smear on his brother's face. "Did Kuroo fight?"

"It's not mine, but…ah. You wouldn't tell mother, would you?"

Kyoya paused. "If Kuroo tells me a story." He promised. "I won't."

"What's up with you and your recent obsession for stories?" Kuroo huffed. "Alright. Now, come on. Up."

That night, the younger Hibari was already asleep in his brother's arms before he could even begin narrating a story. Kyoya had waited long enough for his brother, after all.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Time passed by far too slowly for Kyoya, but they eventually got to the day when they were all packed up and ready to leave for home.

Kyoya was excited to leave.

(Because now, there wouldn't be anyone who would keep stealing Kuroo away for long hours.

Except for school.)

A little too excited that he hadn't gotten much sleep and was now being carried by his mother. He hid another yawn in her shoulder, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

"Yacchan, are you sleepy already?" His mother cooed.

Kyoya made a face at the nickname. His mother didn't use it often because she knew how much he detested the name _(it was not_   _"strong"! It sounded very herbivore!)._

But in moments when she pampered and coddled him, she always used it. And Kyoya usually excused her because he was too tired to retaliate.

"Home." He mumbled.

"Yes, we'll be back home soon."

"Nn, Kuroo?" His eyes were beginning to grow heavy.

"Oh, he's just saying his goodbyes to Squalo. I'm pretty sure they'll miss each other; they did get along quite well."

"Loud boy."

Izanami laughed. "Want to say goodbye to him too?"

"...okay."

The yelling which had ensued (because of something Kuroo had said, of course) dissipated the moment Izanami drew closer to the two boys.

Kyoya yawned again.

"Squalo, someone wants to say his goodbyes to you."

"Bye bye, Loud boy." Kyoya lazily waved at the silver haired teen. He paused as though in thought before saying his next words with a sleepy smile. "Your _sow—_ sword is nice. _Strong._ "

(The silver haired teen himself had taught Kyoya the word, saying it wasn't a _"big shiny silver knife"_ but a _"sword"_.)

Squalo, who had been frowning, wore a softer expression now. His hand reached out, rather hesitantly, and ruffled the little raven's hair. "You draw good too." He said. "Take care, kid."

"Oooh," Kuroo smirked, "look who's getting all sentimental."

" _Voi!_ "

Kyoya rested his head back on his mother's shoulder.

It was loud, alright.

But somehow, it was peaceful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. A quick update, wow.
> 
> Also, a heads up that the next chapters will be quickly covering all the years of Kuroo's life (I wanted to skip out some, but it didn't seem like it would've worked) before we finally get to canon! He'll be 18/19 yrs old when it starts.


End file.
